Thursday, November 8, 2012

Bharti Airtel Q2 net falls 5.4% to Rs 721 cr


India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel’s second quarter net profit fell short of market expectations, but revenues and operating profit were slightly above analyst estimates. Consolidated net profit for the quarter fell 5.4 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 721.2 crore, weighed by higher tax and interest costs.

Consolidated revenues rose by 4.8 percent to Rs 20,273.2 crore from Rs 19,350.1 crore during the same period.

Analysts on an average had expected net profit of Rs 831 crore on revenues of Rs 19,512 crore for the quarter.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal has ruled in favour of the company with respect to an outstanding dispute pertaining to interconnect agreements. That contributed revenues of Rs 586.1 crore, profit before tax of Rs 344.8 crore and profit after tax of Rs 238.6 crore for the quarter, the company said.

If one excludes this one-off income, the bottomline looks quite weak. As a result, net profit fell 37 percent QoQ to Rs 482.6 crore and revenues rose by 1.74 percent to Rs 19687.1 crore for the September quarter.

The stock, which rallied 1.5 percent in early trade, fell 1.3 percent in afternoon trade.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin improved by 108 basis points QoQ to 31.3 percent in the three months period ended September 2012. Analysts had forecast of 30.31 percent.

The improvement in margins, which may be due to one off, looked better compared to decline of 300 basis points QoQ in previous quarter. In previous quarter, analysts had scaled down margin to 30-31 percent as against earlier expectations of 32-34 percent for FY13.

Finance charges, including exchange fluctuation were Rs 1,021.9 crore for the September quarter as against Rs 821.1 crore in the previous quarter. Tax expenses increased 58 percent QoQ to Rs 771.4 crore.

India and South Asia revenues grew higher than expected 4 percent QoQ to Rs 11,117 crore in the second quarter of FY13. Analysts had estimated at Rs 10,525 crore. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) went up to Rs 3,443.7 crore from Rs 3,235 crore during the same period. EBITDA margin grew by 73 basis points QoQ to 31 percent while analysts had estimated at 30.2 percent.

Indian wireless metrics were quite disappointing during the quarter. Total minutes fell 1.9 percent, which was expected by analysts due to a seasonally weak quarter. In previous quarter, total minutes grew 3.8 percent.

Average revenue per user fell to Rs 177 from Rs 185 during the same period. Minutes of usage slipped to 417 as against 433 while revenue per minute was 42.6 paise versus 42.7 paise QoQ.

Zain Africa division has done well and better-than-expected during the quarter.

Africa revenue came in at Rs 6,051 crore, which too was higher than analysts' expectations of Rs 6,000 crore. In the previous quarter, Africa revenue stood at Rs 5,758.6 crore.

In dollar terms, revenues rose 2.9 percent QoQ to USD 1097 million and EBITDA increased 8.36 percent to USD 298 million in the quarter. EBITDA margin improved 170 basis points QoQ to 27.2 percent.

Source: www.moneycontrol.com

Thanks,
Gaurav Agarwal
Head Dealer
DENIP Consultants Pvt Ltd 

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