Bharti Airtel had another solid quarter.
Bharti Airtel reported a 466% surge in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,607 crore for the quarter ending June 30, 2022, boosted by subscriber additions. It reported a net profit of Rs 284 crore in the year-ago period. The company’s consolidated revenue from operations rose 21% to Rs 32,805 crore in Q1FY23 as compared to Rs 27,064 crore in Q1FY22. In India, mobile services revenue increased 27% year on year to Rs 18,220 crore in the first quarter, up from Rs 14,305.6 crore. The digital TV customer base stood at 17.4 million in Q1FY2023.
Acquisition of 5G will raise the bar for innovation.
The company’s average revenue per user (ARPU) was Rs 183 in Q1FY23, against Rs 146 in Q1FY22. The ARPU of rivals Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea for the same period was Rs 175.7 and Rs 128, respectively. The business continued to grow exponentially, up 41.9% YoY, led by healthy customer additions. The company mentioned in November that mobile ARPU needed to be at Rs 200 and ultimately at Rs 300 for a financially healthy business model.
The company continued to deliver strong and sustained growth at 4.5% QoQ. The EBITDA margins were at 50.6%. The enterprise and home businesses have strong momentum and delivered strong double-digit growth, improving the diversity of the overall portfolio. Airtel’s strategy of winning with quality customers continues to yield well.
As India gets ready to launch 5G, they are well positioned to raise the bar on innovation. They are also confident in meeting the emerging needs of discerning customers looking for speed, coverage, and latency. The astute spectrum strategy over the last few years, as they have bolstered the mid-band spectrum, is designed to deliver the best experience at the lowest total cost of ownership. The firm’s 4G customers rose by 20.8 million YOY and by 4.5 million QOQ. Mobile phone data consumption rose by 16.6% YoY. Monthly consumption per mobile data customer was 19.5 GB.
Airtel will lead India’s 5G revolution by acquiring an ideal spectrum bank at the lowest possible cost for the best 5G experience and 100x capacity enhancement; purchased 19,867.8 MHz spectrum in the recently concluded 5G spectrum auction for Rs 43,040 crore;
The company has been raising money to fund its digital ambitions, including developing home broadband, data centers, and cloud adoption as it prepares to launch its next-generation 5G services in the country.
Valuations:
The EPS in the June quarter was Rs. 2.73, compared to Rs. 3.41 in the March quarter and 0.48 in June 2021. The stock is trading at a PE ratio of 86.2x. The EBITDA was at 9.13x with an ROE and ROCE of 12.0% and 5.86%. The company has a low-interest coverage ratio of 1.75x. The stock was trading at Rs.740 on September 5th, up by 0.63%.