Airtel Q2FY23 Preview: Double-digit profit on cards? Know Zee Business’ expectations from telecom major July-September performance

Telecom major Bharti Airtel is expected to report healthy second-quarter results for the financial year 2022-23 (Q2FY23) on Monday, October 31, 2022. Among all, profit may witness double-digit growth quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), while margins may expand marginally during the quarter.

According to Zee Business Senior Research Analyst Kushal Gupta, the consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of Bharti Airtel may grow by 44.8 per cent QoQ to (estimate) Rs 2327 crore in Q2FY23 as compared to Rs 1607 crore in the previous quarter of the current fiscal.

On a consolidated basis, the company’s revenue may surge by 3 per cent QoQ to (estimate) Rs 33,800 crore in Q2 as against Rs 32,805 crore in the earlier quarter, and EBITDA may also jump by 3.3 per cent to (estimate) to Rs 17,150 crore in Q2FY23 against Rs 16,604 crore in Q1FY23.

Similarly, the consolidated margins during the quarter are also likely to expand marginally by 50.7 per cent from 50.6 per cent QoQ and ARPU (average revenue per user) may grow by 2.2 per cent to Rs 187 from 183 QoQ, the senior research analyst said in its preview report.

It should be noted that the company had other expenses of Rs 1,902 crore last quarter, so profit figures were less last quarter, Gupta said in its report.

According to Gupta, “India wireless and Airtel Africa business likely to grow by 2-3 per cent QoQ, Home services, digital TV and enterprise services may grow sequentially by 5/2/3 per cent, respectively and the company is likely to add 2 million subscribers in Q2.”

He added that the key things to watch out is the commentary of Airtel on ARPU trajectory and non-wireless business, it may also give an update on 5G rollout deadline.

In line with Zee Business expectations, Street believes that sequential improvement is seen with an increase in India and Africa wireless revenue, similarly, a strong service mix and an increase in ARPU may help in gaining the margins and strong customer additions and conversion in 4G from 2G.

Shares of Bharti Airtel closed flat on Friday with negative bias at Rs 816.8 per share on the BSE as compared to a 0.34 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. The stock in the last one year gained nearly 20 per cent, while it surged by 18.5 per cent year-to-date.