Bharti Airtel

The market was not every enthused with the performance of Bharti, especially after the very good numbers from Idea. For Q4FY15, the company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs.1255 crore, down 13% (QoQ) and this was on a consolidated revenue of Rs.23,015 crore, down 0.8%. Tight cost control helped and it posted a 3% rise in EBITDA at Rs.8050 crore and margin rose from 33.7% to 35%. Free cash flow from operations (EBITDA – Capex) came in at Rs.1604 crore, down sharply 52% (QoQ). Net debt was at Rs.66,842 crore. Net finance cost during the quarter increased by 95.6% to Rs.1939 crore v/s Rs.991 crore (YoY); this increase is primarily on account of higher derivative and forex losses in current quarter.

India wireless revenue grew 2% at Rs.13,413 crore and African revenue was at 6215 crore, down 6%. Africa takes 30% of the capex, contributing 26% to revenue and 16% to EBITDA. And India and South Asia contributes 74% to revenue and 84% to EBITDA. The company reported average revenue per user (ARPU) at Rs 198 in current Q4 v/s Rs.202 in Q3 and Voice RPM was at 36.22 paise v/s 37.67 paise.

African Voice ARPU fell 15% and Voice usage per customer 10% was down 2% and voice realization per minute was down 13%. South Asia too reported a 10% fall in ARPU, 2% drop in Voice usage per customer  and voice realization per minute was down 8%.

Airtel acquired 111.6 MHz of prime spectrum across 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands for a total consideration of Rs. 29,129 crores in the spectrum auction in Mar"Ÿ15. Of this, Rs. 17,618 crores has been spent on the renewal of existing spectrum while the balance Rs. 11,511crores has been spent on procuring new spectrum. Upfront payments made in Mar"Ÿ15 was at Rs.4725 crore and Rs.6650 crore in April’15.