Bharti Infratel slips 8% on disappointing March quarter results

The company reported flat consolidated net profit at Rs 608 crore in March quarter while The consolidated revenue during the quarter slipped 2 per cent year-on-year (YoY) at Rs 3,600 crore

Bharti Infratel shares slipped 8 per cent to Rs 278 in intraday trade on the BSE on Thursday after the company reported flat consolidated net profit at Rs 608 crore in March quarter due to a decline in revenue.

The consolidated revenue during the quarter slipped 2 per cent year-on-year (YoY) at Rs 3,600 crore against Rs 3,662 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) margin contracted 125 bps to 42.61 per cent from 43.86 per cent in previous year quarter.

Analysts, on an average, had expected a net profit of Rs 664 crore on revenue of Rs 3,708 crore for the quarter.

The company said, between Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers, approximately 20 per cent of opening co-locations were lost during the year translating to approximately 75,000 co-locations on an overall basis and approximately 40,000 co-locations on consolidated basis, mainly due to the merger of Vodafone & Idea.

The management said the merger process of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers was on track and that they hoped it would be completed in the next few months.

Bharti Infratel is India’s leading provider of tower and related infrastructure and it deploys, owns and manages telecom towers and communication structures, for various mobile operators.

At 01:13 pm, the stock was quoting 7.6 per cent lower at Rs 279 on the BSE, as compared to 0.27 per cent gain in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes on the counter jumped 6-fold with a combined 9.83 million equity shares changed hands on the NSE and BSE so far.