Bharti Airtel rings in loss

Bharti Airtel, despite posting the highest revenue in 31 quarters, at Rs. 23,939 crore, the company ended the quarter with a net loss of Rs. Rs 15,933 crore- this is a huge loss compared to the loss of Rs.5,237 crore posted in Q4FY20.

What really pushed the company into the red was the one-time provision related to payment of statutory dues. It had to pay a total of Rs.11,746 crore of which Rs.10,744 crore was a charge on account of incremental provision and interest on licence fee and spectrum usage charges (adjusted for gross revenue provision) and net charge pertaining to re-assessment of levies of Rs 1,001 crore.

EBITDA for the quarter was at Rs.10,639 crore, up 3% sequentially while margins expanded to 43.5% from 43%.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) for the quarter rose to Rs 157 v/s Rs.154 (QoQ) and Rs.129 (YoY) mainly on account of tariff hikes in the previous quarter alongside its continued focus on quality customers.

The overall customer base, as at 30th June was at around 420 million across 16 countries, down 0.8%, while India's subscriber base was at 305.69 million, down 1.3% (QoQ).

The market has given it a thumbs up, putting the loss down to the one time charge and going ahead, the expectation is optimistic. The stock opened in the green at Rs.577, going up to an intraday high at Rs.579.Currently, it is just about holding on to the green, up less than 1%.