Once again Bharti Airtel has posted a disappointing quarter by reporting nearly 78% decline in consolidated net income to Rs 83 crore as on March 2018, compared to net income of Rs 373 crore a year ago same period. This down trend was seen in top-line also, with consolidated revenue coming at Rs 19,634 crore de-grew 5.4% Y-o-Y. 

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said: “The telecom industry continues to witness below cost, artificially suppressed pricing. Industry revenues were further adversely impacted this quarter due to the reduction in International termination rates.

Highlights for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2018 

  • Overall customer stands at 413.8 million across 16 countries, up 12.1% Y-o-Y excluding divested units. 
  • Consolidated total revenues at Rs 19,634 crore, down 5.4% Y-o-Y on an underlying basis. 
  • India revenues down 7.5% Y-o-Y on an underlying basis; Africa revenues up 10.7% Y-o-Y. 
  • Mobile data traffic grows to 1,616 Bn MBs in the quarter; growth of 505% Y-o-Y. 
  • Africa EBITDA margin at 35.9%, up 10.3% Y-o-Y. 
  • Consolidated EBITDA at Rs 7,034 crore.
  • Consolidated EBITDA margin at 35.8%, down 0.6% Y-o-Y. 
  • Net Income for the quarter at Rs 83 crore (Q3’18: Rs 306 crore) vs Rs 373 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. 
  • Acquisition of Tigo Rwanda consummated.

Highlights for the year ended March 31, 2018 

  • Consolidated total revenues at Rs 83,688 crore, down 9.8% Y-o-Y on an underlying basis. 
  • Consolidated EBITDA at Rs 30,448 crore, down by 14.5% Y-o-Y, EBITDA margin down 0.9% Y-o-Y. 
  • Net Income at Rs 1,099 crore, down by 71.1% Y-o-Y. 
  • Roll-out of +107K Mobile Broadband Base station and highest ever investment of Rs 24K crore in India.
  • Consolidated net debt has increased to Rs 95,228 crore from Rs 91,714 crore in the previous quarter. 

Airtel’s board in a meeting held on Tuesday, has declared a final dividend of Rs 2.5 per share (face value of Rs 5 per share) for the financial year ended March 31, 2018.Together with the interim dividend of Rs 2.84 per share, total dividend for the year comes to Rs 5.34 per share, which is entirely a pass through of dividend from the subsidiaries.