Bharti Airtel consolidated net income declines 2.8% yoy at Rs830cr in Q3FY22; Stock trades flat

9 Feb 2022 , 09:15 AM

Bharti Airtel Limited on Tuesday announced consolidated Net income (after Exceptional items) at Rs830cr in the December 31 ended a quarter of FY22, a decline of 2.8% yoy from Rs854cr in the same quarter of the previous year.

The consolidated revenues for Q3FY22 at Rs29,867cr grew 18.3% yoy on a comparable basis, backed by strong and consistent performance delivery across the portfolio. It was 12.6% yoy higher on a reported basis.

During early trade on Wednesday, Bharti Airtel Ltd was trading at Rs705.90 per share down by Rs2.95 or 0.42% from its previous closing of Rs708.85 per share on the BSE.

India business posts quarterly revenues of Rs20,913cr, up 17.9% yoy on a comparable basis. Mobile services India revenues up 19.1% yoy on a comparable basis, led by an increase in ARPU.

Airtel Business revenues up by 13.4% yoy backed by continued strong demand for data portfolio and emerging businesses. Homes business continues to have a robust revenue growth, up 40.4% yoy led by strong customer additions. Digital TV continues to improve its market position with steady revenue and customer base.

Consolidated EBITDA at Rs14,905cr; EBITDA margin at 49.9% – improvement of 398 bps yoy. India business posts EBITDA of Rs10,407cr, crossing 10K crore milestone; EBITDA margin at 49.8%; up 458 bps yoy. Well-balanced portfolio — India non-mobile businesses contribute 17.0% to consolidated EBITDA, the company said in a filing on Tuesday.

The company also reported consolidated EBIT at Rs6,345cr; EBIT margin at 21.2% – improvement of 365 bps yoy. India EBIT at Rs3,320cr; EBIT margin at 15.9% – expansion of 313 bps yoy. 

Industry leading operational indicators showcasing strong business momentum

• 4G customers up by 29.9 Mn yoy & 3.0 Mn qoq to reach 195.5 Mn, 61% of overall customer base
• Mobile ARPU increased to Rs163 in Q3FY22 vs Rs146 in Q3FY21 on comparable1 basis
• Mobile data consumption up by 33.8% yoy, consumption per customer at 18.3 GB per month
• Homes business witnessed continual customer net additions, 341 K additions in Q3FY22
• Digital TV customer base strong at 18.1 Mn in Q3FY22
• Airtel Payments Bank continues to witness accelerated adoption leading to increase in monthly transacting users by 46 % yoy, thereby expanding revenue and profit margin

Total Capex spend for the quarter of Rs6,101cr. The company did pre-payment of Rs15,519cr to clear all deferred liabilities for spectrum acquired in 2014, continues to exercise flexibilities towards a stronger and efficient capital structure. It also said, Google to invest upto $1 Bn in partnership with Airtel as part of its Google for India Digitization Fund. Hughes and Airtel form joint venture, becomes largest Satellite service operator in India.

Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said: “We have delivered another quarter of sustained performance across all our business segments. Overall Sequential revenue growth was at 5.4% and EBITDA margins came in at 49.9%. The recent tariff revision for mobile services has gone down well and we are exiting the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs163. The full impact of the revised mobile tariffs, however, will be visible in the fourth quarter. Our Enterprise, Homes and Africa business continue to deliver strongly, with steady increase in contribution to the overall mix of the portfolio. Our balance sheet is robust and we are now generating healthy free cash flows. This has enabled us to recently prepay some of our spectrum liabilities to the Government thereby reducing the interest burden.

Google’s recent investment is a strong validation of Airtel’s role in being a leading pioneer of India’s digital revolution. Our emerging digital services portfolio across Airtel IQ, AdTech, digital market place, Nxtra and digital banking positions us well to build an Airtel of the future.”