Idea Cellular shares fall 4 pc post Q4 earnings

Shares of Idea Cellular today fell by 4 per cent in an overall weak stock market even as the company reported a robust 59.68 per cent increase in net profit on a consolidated basis for the March quarter.
Despite a positive opening, shares of the company failed to hold on the momentum and slipped in negative zone, down 3.83 per cent to Rs 184.20 at the BSE.
At the NSE, it fell by 3.96 per cent to Rs 184.25.
Traders said that profit-booking wiped out the initial gains.
The Aditya Birla Group's telecom firm Idea Cellular yesterday reported a robust 59.68 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 941.77 crore on a consolidated basis for the March quarter, driven by rise in revenue through volume growth on both voice and data fronts.

Total revenues moved up to Rs 8,422.51 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31 from Rs 7,043.82 crore in the year-ago period and Rs 8,017.47 crore in the preceding quarter.
The private telecom operator's pre-tax profit margin improved by 3.2 percentage points to 31 per cent, which was attributed to the increased scale of operations.
Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex was trading 149.94 points lower at 27,246.44.