Q4 net profit surge and rising ARPU push Bharti Airtel shares closer to all-time high
Shares of Bharti Airtel jumped 3% in opening trade on May 14 as investors cheered for the company’s solid earnings performance for the March quarter. With this, the stock came at a kissing distance of its all-time peak of Rs 1,917, sparking hopes of it notching a fresh record high in the near-term. Shares of Bharti Airtel hit a day's high of Rs 1,870.70 in early trade today.
Meanwhile, bargain buying was also at play in today’s session as investors lapped up the stock at a relatively cheaper price after its fall in four out of the last five trading sessions.
The telecom major delivered a consolidated net profit of Rs 11,022 crore for the March quarter, a meteoric spike when compared to the Rs 2,072 crore that it clocked in the same period last fiscal. However, it is worth noting that the company’s bottomline also included a one-time exceptional tax gain of Rs 4,233 crore.
Regardless though, adjusting for the tax gain too, the company’s bottomline recorded an over threefold surge as compared to the base period.
The company also reported a 27% on year jump in its consolidated revenue to Rs 47,876 crore in Q4, which was driven by steady performance across segments. The mobile ARPU (average revenue per user) climbed to Rs 245 from Rs 209 a year ago, however, it remained flat on quarter.
The surge in the company’s revenue and profit for Q4 was even more pronounced over the year ago period as Bharti Airtel hiked prices in the July quarter last year. What this means is that Q4 of the previous year saw lower tariffs as compared to the quarter under review.
Airtel’s India subscriber base also rose to 42.4 crore in the March quarter. For the full year, the telecom major posted a nearly fourfold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 33,556 crore, up from Rs 7,467 crore in FY24. Annual revenue from operations also saw a healthy 15.33% growth, coming at Rs 1.72 lakh crore compared to Rs 1.49 lakh crore in the previous fiscal.