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Idea Cellular gains 3% on strong Q1 performance

Q1 consolidated profit up 57% yoy at Rs 728 crore on the back of higher call rates and a 11.5% growth in data usage.

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SI Reporter Mumbai
Idea Cellular is trading 3% higher at Rs 144 on BSE after reporting a strong 57% year on year (yoy) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 728 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2014 (Q1), on the back of higher call rates and 11.5% growth in data usage.

India’s third largest telecom operator by subscriber base had profit of Rs 463 crore in a year ago quarter.

Analysts had expected the Aditya Birla Group Company to report an average profit of Rs 588 crore for the April-June quarter.

Idea Cellular’s revenue for the quarter rose 15.6% to Rs 7,561 crore from Rs 6,538 crore in the year-ago quarter. EBITDA or operating profit margins improved by nearly 200 basis points to 30% from 28.2%.

Idea Cellular said that it has reduced its net debt by Rs 5,208 crore to Rs 13,977 crore at the end of June 2014. The reduction of debt will help the firm buy spectrum in the upcoming auction as some of its licences are coming up for renewal in 2015-16.

The stock opened at Rs 145 and touched a high of Rs 147 on BSE. A combined 4.86 million shares changed hands on the counter so far on BSE and NSE.
 
 

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First Published: Jul 22 2014 | 9:26 AM IST

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