Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 25.39 points, or 0.14%, to 17,681.93.
On BSE, 15.48 lakh shares were traded in the counter compared with average volume of 9.61 lakh shares over the past two weeks.
The stock hit a high of Rs 354 and a low of Rs 344.25 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 444.70 on 1 August 2011 and a 52-week low of Rs 309 on 15 March 2011.
India's largest listed telecom operator by sales has an equity capital of Rs 1898.76 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.
Bharti Airtel announced during market hours on Wednesday (8 February 2012) that consolidated net profit as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) fell 22.40% to Rs 1011.30 crore on 17.15% increase in net sales to Rs 18476.70 crore in Q3 December 2011 over Q3 December 2010. Shares of Bharti Airtel had fallen 6.58% to Rs 354 on Wednesday, 8 February 2012.
Bharti Airtel said in a statement that India & South Asia continued their double digit revenue growth (12.1% in Q3 December 2011 over Q2 September 2011) aided by improvement in realisation rates. Africa revenues recorded a healthy year-on-year growth of 16.1%; the growth was a strong 32.2% in rupee terms, aided by exchange rate movements.
Consolidated EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margins for the quarter increased to 32.2% in Q3 December 2011 as against 31.7% in Q3 December 2010, with significant margin improvement being reported in Africa (26.7% in Q3 December 2011 over 19.1% in Q3 December 2010).
The income before taxes for Q3 December 2011 increased by 2% to Rs 1581 crore (Rs 1549 crore in Q3 December 2010) after accounting for the impact of 3G license fee amortisation (Rs 164 crore) and interest costs (higher by Rs 116 crore). However, higher tax provisions have impacted the net income, which was low wer at Rs 1011 crore (Rs 1303 crore in Q3 December 2010). The consolidated year-to-date effective tax rate works out to 32.5%.
The company said as on 31 December 2011 its overall customer base stood at 243 million across 19 countries.
In a statement, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, said, I am pleased that investments in branding and networks continue to be our focus in India, as we enhance customer experience for voice quality and cater to the ever increasing demand for data. These investments are resulting in healthy growth of mobile revenues. In Africa, we have crossed the 50 million customer milestone and are now one of the fastest growing telecom companies in the continent.
Bharti Airtel is a leading integrated telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries a across Asia and Africa. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G & 3G mobile services, fixed line, high speed broadband through DSL, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G & 3G mobile services.