Bharti Airtel Ltd on Monday announced its fiscal second quarter earnings with profit at Rs 3593.20 crore, posting a growth of 168.0 per cent in comparison to Rs 1340.70 crore during the corresponding quarter of FY24, missing estimates. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 41,473.30 crore, up 12.0 per cent as against Rs 37,043.80 crore recorded during the same period of previous financial year. The revenue growth, it said, was driven by strong momentum in India and sustained constant currency growth in Africa. The company’s EBITDA stood at Rs 21,846.3 crore.
According to a CNBC TV18 poll, Bharti Airtel was expected to post Q2 profit at Rs 4336 crore and revenue was estimated at Rs 40,835 crore.
Bharti Airtel’s Q2 performance across regions
Bharti Airtel’s India business posted Q2 revenue at Rs 31,561 crore, up 16.9 per cent YoY, backed by improved realizations in mobile segment and sustained momentum in Homes and Airtel Business. The company’s mobile services India revenues grew by 18.5 per cent YoY, led by tariff repair, strong smartphone data customer additions and underlying mix improvement. The telecom major posted net adds of 0.8 million in Q2FY25 reaching a customer base of 24.7 million. It rolled out additional 5k towers and 15.2k mobile broadband stations in the quarter to enhance connectivity and provide superior network experience. Digital TV revenue, meanwhile, went up 1.0 per cent YoY to Rs 759 crore with a customer base of 15.8 million.
Bharti Airtel’s Africa business reported revenue growth (in constant currency) of 20.8 per ceny YoY and EBITDA margin was at 46.6 per cent, down 201 bps YoY. Customer base stood at approximately 157 million. The Africa business posted capex for the quarter at Rs 1,415 crore.
Gopal Vittal, MD, said, “We delivered another quarter of solid performance, with India revenue growing 8.7% sequentially. Africa maintained strong revenue growth momentum as well with 7.7% constant currency growth. The flow thru of tariff repair is in-line with our expectation on ARPU increase and SIM consolidation. We reported industry leading ARPU of Rs 233. Our focus on winning quality customers and driving premiumization has helped us add 4.2 million smartphone customers. We continue to expand our Wifi coverage with FWA offerings to over 2,000 cities. We continue to invest in our digital businesses to diversify portfolio strength and drive long term growth.”
Bharti Airtel’s balance sheet remained solid, supported by cash generation and continued deleveraging. During the quarter, the telecom giant prepaid another tranche of Rs 8,465 crore of high cost spectrum dues.
From: financialexpress
Financial News
