Bharti Airtel, a big telecom company, reported a huge jump in its profits for the third quarter, reaching Rs 14,781 crore. If we look at the profit before any special items, it grew by 121% compared to last year, hitting Rs 5,514 crore, which is more than what experts expected. Last year, their profit for the same time was Rs 2,442 crore.
Airtel’s total revenue also grew by 19%, amounting to Rs 45,129 crore. This growth came from strong performance in India and good results in Africa. One reason for their higher earnings is the inclusion of Indus Towers into their accounts.
The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 24% to Rs 24,480 crore, partly thanks to the recent Indus Towers merger. Airtel has also seen steady growth in its average revenue per user (ARPU), which rose to Rs 245 from Rs 208 last year.
In the postpaid segment, Airtel added 0.6 million new customers, bringing the total to 25.3 million. They added 5,200 new towers and 16,300 mobile broadband stations to improve their network.
In Africa, Airtel’s revenue grew by 21% in constant currency, even though their EBITDA margin decreased slightly. The customer count in Africa reached 163.1 million.
Regarding stock performance, UBS maintained a neutral rating on Airtel, suggesting a target price of Rs 1,705. They noted that the recent results matched expectations and pointed out that the company is focusing on increasing dividends as well as its home broadband services. However, they also mentioned that high spending is a concern. Meanwhile, HSBC praised Airtel’s strong mobile and broadband growth. They see good potential for improving returns and growth in cash flow.
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