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Bharti Airtel declines after Q4 net profit slips

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Last Updated : May 02 2013 | 11:00 AM IST

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 91.95 points, or 0.47%, to 19,596.13.

On BSE, 3.90 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 4.87 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 318.10 and a low of Rs 305.25 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 370.40 on 25 January 2013. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 238.50 on 30 August 2012.

The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 30 April 2013, rising 9.24% compared with the Sensex's 3.55% rise. The scrip had, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 7.51% as against Sensex's 2.50% fall.

India's largest listed telecom company by sales has an equity capital of Rs 1898.76 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

Bharti Airtel's consolidated net profit as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) fell 49.4% to Rs 509 crore on 9.2% increase in total revenues to Rs 20448 crore in Q4 March 2013 over Q4 March 2012.

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Growth in Bharti Airtel's revenues in Q4 March 2013 was led by strong growth of 71% in mobile internet in India, 24% in Digital TV, 17% in 'airtel business' (B2B) and 12.6% in Africa. With Mobile India churn having improved to 3.2% from 5.9% on sequential basis, the segment witnessed positive net additions after two quarters.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) has grown to Rs 193, a sequential improvement of Rs 8 in Q4 March 2013, fuelled by increased customer usage at 455 minutes, and rate stability.

Consolidated earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin at 31.7% improved on a sequential basis from 30.6% driven by expansion of EBITDA margin in India. The consolidated net income at Rs 509 crore (Q4 March 2012: Rs 1006 crore) was mainly impacted by higher depreciation & amortisation cost (Rs 515 crore), net interest costs (Rs 132 crore), dividend distribution tax (Rs 37 crore) and higher deferred tax charge due to hike in surcharge (Rs 96 crore). Consolidated operating free cash flows for the quarter were at Rs 2964 crore.

The company's consolidated net profit as per IFRS fell 46.6% to Rs 2276 crore on 12.4% increase in total revenues to Rs 80311 crore in the year ended March 2013 over the year ended March 2012.

Full year consolidated revenues at Rs 80311 crore grew by 12.4% over the corresponding previous year, with highlights being mobile data growth of 66% in India, 26% in Digital TV, 19% in 'airtel business' and 21.3% in Africa. Consolidated EBITDA margin for the full year at 31% dropped from 33.2% in the previous year mainly due to pricing pressures and rising input costs. Depreciation and amortisation costs for the year were higher by Rs 2128 crore resulting from continued expansion of networks, and net interest costs were higher by Rs 841 crore, resulting in full year consolidated net income of Rs 2276 crore (year ended March 2012: Rs 4259 crore).

Consolidated operating free cash flow for the year was at Rs 11334 crore. The Net Debt-Equity ratio at 1.27 (year ended March 2012: 1.29) and net debt-EBITDA ratio (USD terms) at 2.57 (FY12: 2.56).

The company's total mobile services customer base rose 7.8% to 259.84 million in March 2013 over March 2012. The figure rose 3.5% in March 2013 over December 2012.

In a statement, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel, said: I am pleased to see that market corrections have started with improvements in the quality of customer acquisitions, and that pricing stability is returning to the sector in India. With Africa over its peak of organic investments we are optimistic about the potential for improved market shares and margin expansions. Finally, on the data front, we are now witnessing consistent quarter on quarter growth across all geographies.

Meanwhile, in a separate announcement today, 2 May 2013, Bharti Airtel announced that Bharti Airtel Holdings (Singapore), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel and Warid Group have reached an agreement, wherein, Bharti Airtel Holdings (Singapore) will acquire 30% equity stake of Warid Group in Airtel Bangladesh. With this, Bharti will own 100% of Airtel Bangladesh. Bharti had acquired 70% stake in Warid Telecom, Bangladesh in January 2010.

Bharti Airtel is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscrib In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce. The company had over 271 million customers across its operations at the end of March 2013.

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First Published: May 02 2013 | 9:58 AM IST

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