Voda Idea slips 25% from day's high; Airtel up 6% post SC AGR verdict

The Supreme Court has allowed telcos to pay their outstanding dues in 10 years.

Shares of Vodafone Idea (VIL) slipped 20 per cent to Rs 8.16, down 25 per cent from intra-day’s high of Rs 10.95 on the BSE after the Supreme Court (SC) allowed 10 years for staggered payment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. The stock trades in the futures & option (F&O) segment, which has no circuit limits. 

At 12:11 pm, it was trading 18 per cent lower at Rs 8.39, as compared to 0.80 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combined 773 million equity shares changed hands on the counter till the time of writing of this report. 

“The Supreme Court in its judgment in the matter of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) allowed telcos to pay their outstanding dues in 10 years. Telcos can pay 10 per cent of their dues by March 31, 2021, and the remaining installments by 7 February every year,” CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT

Vodafone Idea had sought 15 years to pay its AGR dues, including spectrum usage charge, license fee, interest, penalty, and interest on the penalty.

The AGR dues for VIL aggregated to Rs 58,250 crore up to FY2016-17 on basis of preliminary assessment by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). VIL has already paid Rs 7,854 crore towards AGR due to DoT as on date. The company had pleaded for staggered payment of balance dues to DoT.

“With a negative net worth of the company as on June 30, 2020, there is very limited headroom for the company to incur any capital expenditure and raise funds to support the operation of the company. In order to improve the liquidity position of VIL, the expected monetisation of stake sale in Indus Towers is delayed due to the extension of the long stop date to August 31, 2020. VIL continues to avail moratorium on principal and interest payment on term borrowings from Banks,” CARE Ratings said in a press release on the company’s ration action on August 24, 2020.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel moved higher by 6 per cent to Rs 543 on the BSE. “Bharti Airtel continues to report stable key performance indicators (KPI) across and also enjoys a comfortable leverage vis-à-vis peers. With robust performance amid challenging times, Airtel is one of the better-placed telecom players. We see the favourable industry structure of three players (two being strong), a good enough kicker for an eventual hike in tariff as well as superior digital plays in the long-term,” ICICI Securities said in Q1 result update. The brokerage firm has a ‘buy’ rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 700 per share.

Shares of Bharti Infratel, on the other hand, tanked 10 per cent to Rs 178 on the BSE in intra-day trade. It has fallen 14 per cent from its intra-day high of Rs 208 on the back of a two-fold jump in trading volumes.