Bharti Airtel slips as tower deal with Eaton Towers lapses

Bharti Airtel fell 2.39% to Rs 343.30 at 9:26 IST on BSE after the company said the agreement for sale of tower assets in Africa between Bharti Airtel Malawi Holdings B.V. and Eaton Towers (Lilongwe) has lapsed.

The announcement was made before trading hours today, 16 October 2015.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 29.20 points, or 0.11%, to 26,980.94.

On BSE, so far 25,000 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 2.45 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 347.80 and a low of Rs 340.95 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 452.45 on 21 July 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 315.65 on 29 September 2015.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 14 October 2015, sliding 2.15% compared with 3.57% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 17.84% as against Sensex's 4.13% decline.

The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 1998.70 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

On 8 September 2015, Bharti Airtel had announced its plan to sell more than 3,500 of its mobile towers in six African countries to telecommunications tower firm, Eaton Towers in a bid to reduce costs. Bharti Airtel had also said that it will lease back the towers from Eaton under a 10-year pact.

Bharti Airtel, however, announced today that the agreements between Bharti Airtel Malawi Holdings B.V. and Eaton Towers (Lilongwe) has lapsed and therefore stands terminated. No other details were disclosed.

In a separate announcement after market hours yesterday, 15 October 2015, Bharti Airtel said that in the matter of 'CBI vs Shvamal Ghosh & Others,' the Special court has vide its order dated 15 October 2015 discharged Bharti Airtel and the other accused persons, on a finding, interalia, that there is no incriminating material on record against the accused and the accused deserve to be discharged.

On consolidated basis, Bharti Airtel's net profit rose 40.2% to Rs 1554.30 crore on 9.2% increase in total income to Rs 25112.20 crore in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014.

Bharti Airtel is one of leading global telecommunications service providers with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa.

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