Bharti Airtel Q1 preview: Net profit likely to drop 13.5% sequentially, average revenue per user may improve by Rs 5

Bharti Airtel is scheduled to report its financial results for the April-June period on Thursday, August 3. Analysts expect the private sector telecom major to register growth in domestic mobile as well as non-mobile business but see currency devaluation impacting its Africa operations. 

According to Zee Business research, Bharti Airtel is estimated to report a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,600 crore for the first quarter of the current financial year, which translates to a 61.8 per cent increase on a year-on-year basis and a 13.5 per cent drop on a quarter-on-quarter basis. The analysts expect the telecom operator to report revenue of Rs 36,800 crore for the quarter ended June 2023, as against Rs 36,009 crore for the quarter ended March 2023 and Rs 32,804.6 crore for the quarter ended June 2022. 

Bharti Airtel is estimated to report Rs 19,200 crore in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and ammortisation (EBITDA) for the three-month period, a sequential increase of 2.7 per cent. Its margin — a key measure of profitability — for the June quarter is expected to improve by 30 basis points to 52.2 per cent compared with the previous three months, according to the research. 

Zee Business analysts estimate the company’s average revenue per user (ARPU) — a measure of the income generated from each user — to be at Rs 198 for the quarter ended June as against Rs 193 for the January-March period. 

Bharti Airtel's mobile services in India and Africa accounted for more than 52.1 per cent and 29 per cent of its revenue in the financial year 2022-23 respectively.

Nigeria devalued its currency naira in June, in a bid to unify the country’s multiple exchange rates and to lure foreign investment to shore up liquidity in an economy struggling with dollar shortages.

How Bharti Airtel fared in the January-March period

For the final quarter of the financial year 2022-23, Bharti Airtel reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,006 crore, beating analysts' estimates. Its ARPU remained flat on a sequential basis at Rs 193.

Zee Business analysts had estimated the company's net profit for the March quarter at Rs 2,250 crore.

Bharti Airtel shares

Bharti Airtel shares grew 17.2 per cent in the June quarter while the benchmark Nifty index rose 10.5 per cent. 

As of August 2, the telecom stock had risen 7.6 per cent so far in 2023, in line with a 7.3 per cent gain in the headline index.

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