Bharti Airtel posted a much lower Q2FY18 performance but because the fall was not as precipitated as expected, the market celebrated with a new life time high at Rs.537.65 and remains firmly around the same levels.

The company’s consolidated topline fell 1% (QoQ) at Rs.21,777 crore  and net profit was down 7% at Rs.343 crore. There was an exceptional loss of Rs.179 crore which dented the bottomline – this was on account of network upgrade expense. But for this loss, the company would have actually posted a marginally higher profit. This means that despite the cut throat competition from Reliance Jio, the company has managed to hold its steed.

Operating profit was up 2% at Rs.8004 crore while margins actually improved from 35.6% to 36.8%.

Additionally the company has said that it has been approached by global investors to acquire significant stake in Bharti Infratel, which could result in investors acquiring controlling stake.