Bharti Airtel gains post Q1 results

The stock gained 3.3% at Rs 428 after the company posted a 40% YoY jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,554 crore in the June quarter.

Shares of Bharti Airtel have gained 3.3% at Rs 428 on the BSE after the company reported a 40% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,554 crore for the quarter ended June 2015 (Q1). The company had posted a profit of Rs 1,108 crore in the same quarter last year.

However, the quarter’s numbers were riddled with several exceptional items and accounting adjustments such as the sale of tower business, which helped shore up the bottomline.

Exceptional items during the quarter includes net gain of Rs 2,269 crore pertaining to the divestment of telecom tower assets in Uganda, Ghana, Congo Brazzaville and Nigeria, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the company’s consolidated revenues during the quarter grew by a modest 3.1% Y-o-Y to Rs 23,671 crore.

Analysts on an average had expected profit of Rs 1,394 crore on revenues of Rs 23,534 crore.

Consolidated operating profit at Rs 8,262 crore grew by 6.4% Y-o-Y with operating margin expanding by 1.1% to 34.9%, driven by India’s margin expansion by 2.1% Y-o-Y, the company added.

At 10:04 AM, the stock was up 2.2% at Rs 423 on the BSE. A combined 2.36 million shares changed hands on the counter on the BSE and NSE.