Bharti Airtel surges 2% on mixed bag of Q4 performance

Notably, Bharti Airtel is among the top gainers on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)

Bharti Airtel Stock: Shares of Bharti Airtel rose as much as 2.13 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 1,312.80 apiece on Wednesday following the company's announcement of its fourth-quarter financial results for the fiscal year 2023-24 (Q4FY24).

Notably, the stock is among the top gainers on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The results presented a mixed picture, with the company's profit falling short of street estimates while revenue surpassed expectations.

In the March quarter of FY24, Bharti Airtel's consolidated net profit declined over 31 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 2,068.2 crore, as compared to Rs 3,005.6 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

On the other hand, the company's topline exhibited growth, with revenue increasing 4.4 per cent to Rs 37,599.1 crore in Q4FY24, up from Rs 36,009 crore in the same period of the previous year.

Gopal Vittal, Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, said, "We ended the year on a strong note with consistent performance across all businesses, both on customer metrics as well as financial parameters. India revenue (adjusted for Beetel) grew by 1.7 per cent with Ebitda margin expanding to 54.1 per cent, despite one day less in the quarter. Consolidated performance was impacted primarily by the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira. We added 7.8 million smart phone customers and delivered an industry leading average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs 209.”

Bharti Airtel’s consolidated Ebitda stood at Rs 79,046 crore and Ebitda margin zoomed 115 basis points to 52.7 per cent in Q4FY24. Meanwhile, India Ebitda came in at Rs 59,009 crore and Ebitda margin jumped 162 basis points to 53.8 per cent.

The company’s overall customer base stands at approximately 562 million across 16 countries. 

“Our relentless focus on improving customer experience has resulted in 20 per cent churn reduction during the quarter. Our simple and clear strategy coupled with razor-sharp focus on execution enabled us to end the quarter with life-time high market share across all businesses. Our efforts on digitising Airtel are now gathering velocity and is being visibly felt across all parts of our operations. At the same time, our return on capital employed continues to remain low due to the absence of tariff repair in the industry,” Vittal added.

The board of Bharti Airtel has proposed a final dividend for the fiscal year 2023-24. The dividend amounts to Rs 8 per fully paid-up equity share with a face value of Rs 5 each, and Rs 2 per partly paid-up equity share with a face value of Rs 5 each (with a paid-up value of Rs 1.25 per share). The distribution of the dividend is aligned with the amount paid-up on each equity share of face value Rs 5 each.

At 9:34 AM, shares of Bharti Airtel were trading 0.66 per cent higher at Rs 1,293.85 per share. By comparison, S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.07 per cent at 73,156.09 levels.