Bharti Airtel rose 2.49% to Rs 424 at 9:18 IST on BSE after consolidated net profit rose 40.2% to Rs 1554 crore on 3.1% increase in revenue to Rs 23671 crore in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014.
The Q1 result was announced after market hours yesterday, 4 August 2015. The results are as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 171.27 points or 0.61% at 28,243.20.
On BSE, so far 98,000 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 1.86 lakh shares in the past two weeks.
The stock hit a high of Rs 427.60 and a low of Rs 421.60 so far during the day.
Bharti's bottom line in Q1 June 2015 was boosted by exceptional income of a net Rs 458.10 crore. The company's profit before tax and exceptional items dropped 13.3% to Rs 2500.70 crore in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014.
The company's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) rose 6.4% to Rs 8262 crore in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014. EBITDA margin improved to 34.9% in Q1 June 2015, from 33.8% in Q1 June 2014.
Bharti Airtel said consolidated Mobile data revenues grew by 56.9% to Rs 3459 crore in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014, uplifted by data traffic growth of 86.5%.
India revenues reported a growth of 10% in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014, led by 22.2% in 'airtel business' (B2B) and 15.8% in Digital TV. Adjusted for the impact in reduction of termination rates, India revenues grew on an underlying basis by 12.7% and Mobile revenues by 12.2% in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014. Mobile Data revenue at Rs 2609 crore registered a growth of 67.3% in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014 in India, uplifted by increase in the Data customer base by 25.8% and traffic by 83.4%. Data ARPU (average revenue per user) has moved up by Rs 42 to Rs 181 in Q1 June 2015, led by 42.7% increase in data usage per customer. Mobile Data revenues contribute to 19.2% of Mobile India revenues vis-a-vis 12.4% in the corresponding quarter last year.
In constant currency terms, Africa revenues grew by 1% in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014. Data revenues stood at $128 million with growth of 48.5% in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014, led by increase in Data customer base by 31.9% and traffic by 111.6%. Data ARPU increased to $3.3 from $3 in the corresponding quarter last year. Data revenues contribute to 12.9% of overall Africa revenues vis-a-vis 8.8% in the corresponding quarter last year. Active Airtel Money customer base increased to 7 million, boosting the total transaction values on Airtel Money platform by 72.6% to $3.3 billion.
Consolidated EBITDA at Rs 8262 crore grew by 6.4% in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014 with EBITDA margin expanding by 1.1% to 34.9%, driven by India's margin expansion by 2.1% in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014. The resultant consolidated EBIT (earnings before interest & tax) of Rs 4216 crore represents a growth of 14.2% in Q1 June 2015 over Q1 June 2014, with EBIT margin improving by 1.7%. Net interest costs of Rs 1139 crore have risen from Rs 656 crore in the same quarter last year. Adverse currency movements resulted in forex and derivative losses of Rs 780 crore, significantly higher than Rs 301 crore in the first quarter last year. After accounting for exceptional items (net gains of Rs 458 crore), the Consolidated Net Income increased by 40.2% to Rs 1554 crore.
The company's consolidated net debt excluding the deferred payment liabilities to the DOT and finance lease obligations is now at $7,640 million. During the quarter, tower disposals to the tune of $1,340 million were closed. The board has approved the establishment of sponsored Level 1 ADR program in the United States, subject to all subsequent regulatory approvals and clarifications from SEBI and RBI. These ADRs can be traded on the US OTC market.
Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said that the year has begun on a healthy note, with underlying revenue growth accelerating to 12.7% in India. The company's customer base has continued to steadily expand. Mobile minutes and data traffic have grown by 7.4% and 83.4% respectively. Revenue growth is broad based across all business units, especially the domestic enterprise & corporate segment, which saw revenues grow by 18.1%, and DTH business which had a underlying topline growth of 26.8%. The company's capex programme is mostly directed at increasing 3G / 4G coverage and improving all-round customer experience, he added.
Christian de Faria, MD and CEO, Africa, said that in the first quarter, Airtel Africa has set the pace for the year, with customer base growing by 13.4% to 78.3 million. Customer churn has been reduced from 7% to 5.4%, as a result of customer lifecycle management programmes. Minutes grew by 16.0%, while data volumes have more than doubled. The data customer penetration at 16.6% reflects the untapped potential in the internet space, he said.
Separately, Bharti Airtel announced after market hours yesterday, 4 August 2015, that its board has appointed Nilanjan Roy as the Global Chief Financial Officer with effect from 5 August 2015. He will take over from Srikanth Balachandran, who is being appointed as the Global Chief Human Resources Officer. Nilanjan Roy is currently the CFO for the India & South Asia business, and has previously held the roles of Financial Controller and Controller - India Mobile Business. Srikanth Balachandran has been the Global CFO of Bharti Airtel since April 2011.
Bharti Airtel is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa.
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