Bharti Airtel Q4 results preview: Margin seen to remain steady QoQ; ARPU likely at Rs 210

Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecom service provider, is slated to report its Q4FY24 earnings later today post market hours. Zee Business research desk estimates the Nifty 50 company to log a 9.9 per cent decline in consolidated net profit quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) for the period under review at Rs 2,200 crore from Rs 2,442 crore reported in the quarter-ended December. In Q4FY23, the company reported a consolidated PAT of Rs 3,005 crore.

Adjusted PAT at the telco major is estimated to be at Rs 2,200 crore during the period, down 15 per cent sequentially. In the previous quarter, the company’s adjusted PAT stood at Rs 2,591 crore.

The revenue from operations for the January-March period is expected to register a marginal growth of 2.1 per cent QoQ to Rs 38,700 crore as against Rs 37,899 crore registered in the previous quarter. In the year-ago quarter, the company’s revenue was at Rs 36,009 crore.

From its India business, analysts expect the company’s income to increase by 2.5 per cent, while the Africa business is seen to log 2.8 per cent growth.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) at the company is expected  at Rs 20,200 crore, a 1.9 per cent uptick over the previous quarter’s EBITDA of Rs 19,815 crore. The margin, however, is estimated to remain steady sequentially at 52.2 per cent. In the previous quarter, Bharti Airtel reported margin at 52.3 per cent.

The average revenue per user (ARPU), a useful metric to assess the telecom company’s profitability, is also seen inching higher by 1.5 per cent sequentially to Rs 210 as against Rs 208 in the previous quarter.

Bharti Airtel share price performance 

Ahead of its results later today, stock of Bharti Airtel traded flat with a negative bias at Rs 1,286.15, down 0.03 per cent. Over the past year, the stock has gained over 62 per cent when compared to Nifty 50’s return of 21 per cent.