Bharti Airtel Q4 Results: Net Profit Skids 31% To Rs 2,072 Crore; Rs 8/share Dividend Announced

Telecom Major Bharti Airtel reported on Tuesday a 31.1% plunge year-on-year in its net profit to Rs 2,071.60 crore, compared to Rs 3,005.60 crore in the corresponding period of the last year. This decrease in profit was attributed to various factors, including currency devaluation in Africa, particularly affecting the Nigerian Naira.

Bharti Airtel's revenue from operations recorded a positive upswing, climbing by 4.4% year-on-year to reach Rs 37,599.10 crore, up from Rs 36,009.00 crore during the fourth quarter of FY23. However, the company's consolidated revenue was somewhat dampened by the currency devaluation in Africa.

On the operational front, Bharti Airtel witnessed a commendable increase of 4.2% year-on-year in its consolidated EBITDA, which amounted to Rs 19,590 crore in Q4'24. Although the EBITDA margin experienced a slight dip from 52.2% in Q4'23 to 52.1% in Q4'24, the margins across businesses remained robust. Notably, India's EBITDA margins improved from 53.1% in Q4'23 to 53.6% in Q4'24, indicating operational efficiency and effective cost management strategies.

In terms of data usage, Bharti Airtel reported a consolidated mobile data traffic of 17,702 petabytes in the quarter, reflecting a healthy year-on-year growth of 26.2%. This underscores the increasing demand for data services amidst the evolving digital landscape.

"We had great performance at the end of the year across all businesses, both in terms of financial parameters and consumer indicators. Despite one fewer day in the quarter, India's revenue (adjusted for Beetel) increased by 1.7%, and the EBITDA margin increased to 54.1%." Gopal Vittal, MD, said in a statement.

Furthermore, for the fiscal year 2023-2024, the board of the firm recommended a final dividend of Rs 8 for each fully paid-up equity share and Rs 2 for partially paid-up equity shares. This action seeks to underline the company's value generation commitment while also rewarding shareholders.

"We increased the number of smartphone users by 7.8 million and produced an industry-best ARPU of Rs 209. Our relentless focus on improving the customer experience has resulted in a 20% churn reduction during the quarter. Our simple and clear strategy, coupled with a razor-sharp focus on execution, enabled us to end the quarter with a lifetime high market share across all businesses," Gopal added.

Brokerages had projected Airtel's revenue to be between Rs 38,736 crore and Rs 39,360 crore, and its net profit to be between Rs 2,201 crore and Rs 5,309 crore, thus while the revenue met forecasts, the net profit was below the Street's estimates. Nonetheless, the business's India revenue for Q4FY24 showed strong development, coming in at Rs 28,513 crore, up 12.9% from the previous year. The primary drivers of this development were mobile revenues, which were ascribed to robust 4G/5G user additions and enhanced realisation.

Moreover, Bharti Airtel reinforced its leadership position in the postpaid segment by adding 0.8 million net subscribers in Q4'24, reaching a customer base of 51.2 million, including IoT customers. The company's Airtel Business segment delivered commendable revenue growth of 14.1% year-on-year, while its digital TV business exhibited 6% growth in the quarter.

Looking ahead, Bharti Airtel remains committed to expanding its network infrastructure to enhance coverage and connectivity, as exemplified by the deployment of approximately 10.5 thousand towers in the quarter and a total of 43,102 towers during the year, catering to both rural and urban areas.

Despite facing challenges such as currency devaluation and competitive pressures, Bharti Airtel's resilient revenue growth and strategic initiatives position it well for sustained performance and value creation in the telecommunications landscape.