Bharti Airtel gains on strong Q4 numbers

The Q4 consolidated net profit jumped 89% yoy at Rs 962 crore, backed by strong growth in voice and data revenues.

Bharti Airtel is trading higher by 2% at Rs 341 after reporting 89% year-on-year jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 962 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014 (Q4), backed by strong growth in voice and data revenues. The country’s largest telecom operator by subscribers had posted a profit of Rs 509 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

Revenues for the quarter increased 13.5% to Rs 22,219 crore against Rs 19,582 crore in the year-ago period.

“Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) grew 20.6% over the year to Rs 7,307 crore in the quarter. Ebitda margin rose 1.9% to 32.9%, driven by a 290-basis-point rise in India margins to 36.8%,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

Overall, the results were inline but Africa business continues to remain an overhang on the stock, says an analyst at Angel Broking in a client note.

The stock opened at Rs 340 and touched a high of Rs 343 on the NSE. A combined around 950,000 shares changed hands on the counter in early morning deals on the NSE and BSE.