Bharti Airtel (Airtel) on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit (after exceptional items) of ₹2,071.6 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, down 31 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) compared with ₹3,005.6 crore in the corresponding period last year.
The consolidated total revenue of the company rose 4 per cent y-o-y to ₹37,599 crore during the January-March quarter (₹36,009 crore).
The revenues were impacted mainly due to the devaluation of African currencies during the period, particularly Nigerian Naira, the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company said. Meanwhile, the board has also recommended a final dividend of ₹8 per fully paid-up equity share of face value of ₹5 each and ₹2 per partly paid-up equity share of face value of ₹5 each.
The company said it showcased strong business momentum during the fourth quarter — 4G/5G data customers up by 28.6 million y-o-y and 7.8 million quarterly basis quarter on quarter (q-o-q) (72 per cent of overall mobile customer base); postpaid net adds of 0.8 million; mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) increased to ₹209 (₹193); and mobile data consumption was also up 25 per cent y-o-y with consumption per customer at 22.6 GB per month.
For the full financial year, the company reported a consolidated net profit of ₹7,467 crore (₹8,346 crore), which is a 11 per cent y-o-y decline.
However, total revenue of the company for the full year rose 8 per cent to ₹1,49,982.4 crore during FY24 (₹1,39,144.8 crore).
Consistent show
“We ended the year on a strong note with consistent performance across all businesses, both on customer metrics as well as financial parameters. India revenue (adjusted for Beetel) grew 1.7 per cent with EBITDA margin expanding to 54.1 per cent, despite one day less in the quarter,” Gopal Vittal, Managing Director, Airtel, said.
He said the company’s focus on improving customer experience has resulted in 20 per cent churn reduction during the quarter, adding that a clear strategy coupled with focus on execution enabled it to end the quarter with lifetime-high market share across all businesses.
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“Our efforts on digitising Airtel are now gathering velocity and is being visibly felt across all parts of our operations. At the same time, our return on capital employed continues to remain low due to the absence of tariff repair in the industry,” Vittal added.
The Homes business also sustained its growth momentum and delivered a revenue growth of 20 per cent y-o-y. The company said its focus on digitisation and acquiring high-value customers led to 3.31 lakh customer additions in the quarter to reach a total base of 7.6 million. It also added that it continues to accelerate homepass rollout on the back of asset-light local cable operator partnership model, and live in 1,290 cities now.