Bharti Airtel hits over 10-year high as Q2 operating profit beats estimates

The stock surged 7% to Rs 534 on the BSE, its highest level since October 18, 2007

Bharti Airtel hits an over 10-year high of Rs 534, up 7% on the BSE after the company reported a better-than-expected consolidated operating profit and margin for the quarter ending September 2017 (Q2FY18).

The stock was trading at its highest level since October 18, 2007. It is just 8% away from its all-time high of Rs 575 touched on October 10, 2007 in intra-day trade.

The company said it has reported consolidated Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) at Rs 8,004 crore declined 15.4% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) with EBITDA margin dropping by 1.6% to 36.8%, led by India SA margin drop of 5.0% Y-o-Y on an underlying basis.

The brokerage firm Edelweiss Securities had expected Ebitda of Rs 7,613 crore and Ebitda margin of 34.94%, while Emkay Global Financial Services expected Ebitda of Rs 7,568 crore and margin of 34.09% for the quarter.

Bharti Airtel has reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 343 crore in Q2FY18 against profit of Rs 1,461 crore in the same quarter previous year.

The consolidated revenues for Q2FY18 however declined by 10.4% at Rs 21,777 crore on Y-o-Y basis. Consolidated mobile data traffic at 853 Mn MBs in the quarter has registered a robust Y-o-Y growth of 293.8% on an underlying basis.

According to media reports, the foreign brokerage firm CLSA upgraded the recommendation on Bharti Airtel to buy from underperform. CLSA raised the target price to Rs 637 from Rs 430.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel said that its board had constituted a Committee of Directors ('COD') to evaluate selling stake in Bharti Infratel, following which 13.96% shares was sold to a group of private equity investors and to QIPs by way of market transactions. Airtel now holds directly and through its subsidiary an overall shareholding of 58% in Bharti Infratel.

Airtel has been approached by a few reputed global investors to acquire a significant stake in Bharti Infratel which, if accepted, could result in such investors acquiring control of Bharti Infratel. The COD has recommended that such proposals be duly considered.

It may however be noted that the Company has not entered into any agreements in relation to any such proposal or discussions and there is no certainty of any transaction until such time the Board reviews and approves a final proposal, it added.