Bharti Airtel Q4 profit grows 50% to ₹3,006 cr; revenue up 14%

India’s second-largest telecom company Bharti Airtel has clocked a 50% jump in consolidated net profit at ₹3,006 crore for the January-March quarter of the financial year 2022-23 as compared to ₹2,008 crore during the same period last year. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Airtel's profit surged 89%, thus beating the estimates.

Bharti Airtel, in a stock exchange filing today, said it recorded quarterly revenue of ₹36,009 crore in Q4 FY23 -- up 14.3% YoY, backed by strong performance across the portfolio. The company's India business posted quarterly revenue of ₹25,250 crore – up 12.2% YoY, while the company's mobile services India revenue grew 11.5% YoY, led by continued 4G customer additions and an increase in ARPU, Airtel said.

“This has been another strong quarter as we end the fiscal year has further strengthened our portfolio. A simple strategy and our relentless focus on execution have ensured that we close the year with market share gains across all businesses. We are also pleased to see the increased velocity of our digital deliveries across all parts of our business," Gopal Vittal, MD, Airtel said.

The company's consolidated EBITDA for the quarter was at ₹18,807 crore; while the EBITDA margin was recorded at 52.2%, an improvement of 144 bps YoY. India business posts EBITDA of ₹13,403 crore, EBITDA margin at 53.1%; up 225 bps YoY.

Similarly, Airtel's consolidated EBIT was recorded at ₹9,387 crore, while its EBIT margin was at 26.1%, an improvement of 285 bps YoY. Its India business posted EBIT of ₹5,826 crore, while its EBIT margin at 23.1% was up 432 bps YoY.

According to the telco, its leading operational indicators showcased strong business momentum. The 4G data customers were up by 23.3 million YoY and 7.4 million QoQ, which is around 67% of the overall mobile customer base. In 5G, says Airtel, Airtel has created 5G experience zones across all its retail stores in the country.

Airtel's mobile ARPU (average revenue per user) increased to ₹193 in Q4’23 vs ₹178 in Q4’22. Mobile data consumption was up by 20.2% YoY, consumption per customer was at 20.3 GB per month, and home business accelerated its presence with 4,04,000 customer net additions in Q4’23. Airtel's digital TV customer base was recorded at 15.9 million in Q4 FY23.

Airtel's Africa revenue in constant currency grew 18.6% YoY. While the EBITDA margin was at 49.2%, down 74 bps YoY, the EBIT margin at 32.8% was down 165 bps YoY. Airtel's customer base in Africa stood at 140 million as of March 31, 2023, and the capex for the quarter was ₹2,394 crore.

Airtel said in the postpaid segment, it had a customer base of 35.6 million (including IoT). "ARPU continues to be the best in the industry and average data usage per data customer at 20.3 GBs/month." Airtel's total profit for FY23 increased 96.1% to ₹8,346 crore, while its revenue surged 19.4% to ₹1,39,145 crore.

The Bharti Airtel board has considered and recommended a final dividend of ₹4 per fully paid-up equity share of face value ₹5 each and ₹1 per partly paid-up equity share of face value ₹5 each for FY23. Airtel says the dividend is in proportion to the amount paid-up on each equity share of face value ₹5 each.