Bharti Airtel Q3 Results: Posts Profit On One-Time Gain

Bharti Airtel Ltd. reported profit for the quarter ended December on one-time gain stemming from the merger of its tower arm and Indus Towers Ltd.

Net profit stood at Rs 853.6 crore compared with a loss of Rs 763 crore in the preceding three months, according to an exchange filing. A consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg had pegged the loss at Rs 5 crore.

Bharti Airtel reported a one-time “deemed disposal gain” of Rs 944.96 crore in the quarter as it lost controlling ownership in the combined entity after the merger of its subsidiary Bharti Infratel Ltd. with Indus Towers. Adjusting for this exceptional item, Bharti Airtel reported a loss of Rs 846 crore in the third quarter.

Its revenue rose 5.8% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 26,518 crore—the highest ever. That compares with the Rs 26,063-crore forecast. Other income, however, fell 52.3% sequentially to Rs 49.2 crore.

Highlights (QoQ)

• Operating profit rose 4.6% to Rs 12,178 crore.
• Margin expanded to 45.9% from 45.15%.
• Average revenue per user—the amount an operator earns per subscriber per month—rose to Rs 166 from Rs 162, helped by customers willing to pay a premium for better network quality.

Bharti Airtel's total customer base stood at 33.6 crore. It added 1.29 crore 4G customers in the reported quarter, and added the highest ever 2.15 lakh users in home business.

The revenue and net profit of the company's Africa unit rose 7.2% and 31.8% sequentially, respectively, in the quarter ended December. Its customer base grew 2.14% quarter-on-quarter to 11.89 crore.

Shares of Bharti Airtel closed 2.1% higher before the results were announced compared with the benchmark Nifty 50's 0.97% gain.

(Corrects an earlier version that misstated Ebitda margin at 45.2%)