Bharti quarterly profit soars

Posted on | July 30, 2006 |

Bharti Airtel Ltd., beat quarterly profit forecasts as its first-quarter net profit rose 48% to Rs 755 crore.

Total revenue increased 53% to Rs 3856 crore in the first quarter. It has posted an EBITDA of Rs 1502 crore, a YoY increase of 60%.

It had the highest ever net additions of 36.51 lakh customers in a single quarter. Wireless services accounted for 74% of first quarter sales.

Monthly ARPU slipped marginally to Rs 441 rupees from Rs 442 in the last quarter, but minutes of usage surged to 441 versus 431.

As operators sign-up the next set of users, the price-sensitive segment in urban market and the rural populace, ARPUs are expected to decline further. Its good to know that there is no steep decline in ARPU of Airtel subscribers and that it has managed to contain the decline in the last quarter.

The company’s networks cover 46% of the population. It has a presence in 4,026 towns and 101,614 villages.

Bharti has a market capitalisation of nearly $15 billion. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Rajen Shah of Angel Broking comments on the company’s stock:

“So the results have been good and the management expects the margin to continue at the same level in the coming quarters and based on the first quarter numbers Bharti could easily report earnings of about Rs 17 for the current year, which translates into a PE of about 22, which is reasonable for Bharti. I don’t expect any major upside from the current levels in Bharti.”

Visit the company’s website for more earnings details.

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