Bharti Airtel reports consolidated EBITDA of Rs 10,326 crore in Q4FY20

Bharti Airtel Limited ("Bharti Airtel" or "the Company") today announced its audited consolidated Ind AS results for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2020.

Highlights for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2020 (including impact of Ind AS 116)

Consolidated

- Overall customer base stands at 423 million across 16 countries
- Total revenues at Rs 23,723 crore, up 15.1% YoY (underlying growth of 18.2% YoY)
- EBITDA at Rs 10,326 crore, up 51.7% YoY; EBITDA margin at 43.5%, up 10.5 p.p. YoY
- EBIT at Rs 3,246 crore, up 172.1% YoY; EBIT margin at 13.7%, up 7.9 p.p. YoY
- Net loss (before exceptional items) for Q4'20 at Rs 471 crore, net loss (after exceptional items) for Q4'20 at Rs 5,237 crore
- Total Capex spend for the quarter of Rs 11,339 crore

India & Africa

- India revenues up 14.4% YoY (18.5% on an underlying basis); EBITDA margin at 42.7%, up 12.2 p.p. YoY. Adjusted1 EBITDA margin comparable to Q3'20 is at 43.2%. EBIT margin at 8.6%, up 9.2 p.p. YoY
- Africa revenues (in constant currency) up 17.9% YoY, EBITDA margin at 44.1%, up 4.9 p.p. YoY, EBIT margin at 27.2%, up 3.3 p.p. YoY

Highlights for the year ended March 31, 2020 (including impact of Ind AS 116)

- Consolidated total revenues at Rs 87,539 crore, up 8.4% YoY (underlying growth of 10.7% YoY)
- Consolidated EBITDA at Rs 37,105 crore and EBITDA margin at 42.4%, up 9.8 p.p. YoY
- Net Loss (before exceptional items) at Rs 4,074 crore
- Net Loss (after exceptional items) at Rs 32,183 crore

Q4'20 Performance:

The consolidated revenues for Q4'20 at Rs 23,723 crore grew 15.1% YoY on reported basis (18.2% YoY on an underlying basis). Growth was broad based and all segments registered healthy underlying growth.

India revenues for Q4'20 at Rs 17,438 crore have increased by 14.4% YoY on a reported basis (18.5% YoY on an underlying basis). Mobile revenues have witnessed a YoY growth of 21.8% primarily led by increase in 4G customer base coupled with improved tariffs. ARPU for the quarter is at Rs 154 as compared to Rs 123 in Q4'19. India Mobile business has turned EBIT positive. Mobile 4G data customers2 increased by ~12.5 Mn in Q4'20. India Mobile data traffic has increased by 74.2% to 6,010 PBs in the quarter as compared to 3,451 PBs in the corresponding quarter last year.

The company has undertaken a capex investment of Rs 25,359 crore on a consolidated basis during the year to ensure superior customer experience besides front ending some investment to ensure seamless services during the ongoing pandemic.

Airtel's journey as a Digital Business continued strongly in Q4'20. Airtel Thanks is the leading digital engagement platform for Airtel. We have over 160 million Monthly Active Users across our Digital assets - Airtel Thanks, Wynk and X Stream. We have over 1.1 million retailers transacting and making payments every day on our Mitra App. Today over 60 percent of our entire business goes through Digital channels, and with share of AirtelThanks platform growing strongly to now become the second largest platform for user payments online.

Digital TV revenue witnessed strong growth of 16.9% YoY on an underlying basis, on the back of strong customer additions. Airtel Business witnessed a double digit revenue growth of 12.4% YoY led by increased focus on connecting large enterprises, SMEs besides providing innovative solutions. Homes business continues to remain resilient and shows significant long term promise in the wake of the new normal of work from home and social distancing established post the COVID situation.

Consolidated EBITDA witnessed an increase of 51.7% YoY to Rs 10,326 crore in Q4'20. This led to an improvement in EBITDA margin of 10.5 p.p. YoY to 43.5%. Consolidated EBIT increased by 172.1% YoY to Rs 3,246 crore. The Consolidated Net Loss before exceptional items for the quarter stands at Rs 471 crore. The Consolidated Net Loss after exceptional items for the quarter stands at Rs 5,237 crore.

In line with our policy of passing through dividends received from Infratel, the Board of Directors is pleased to recommend a dividend of Rs. 2 per share for FY 2019-20. This is subject to shareholders' approval.

Consolidated net debt excluding lease obligations for the company stands at Rs 88,251 crore as on March 31, 2020 compared to Rs 108,235 crore as on March 31, 2019. Consolidated net debt including lease obligations is at Rs 118,859 crore. The Net Debt-EBITDA ratio on reported basis (annualized) as on March 31, 2020 is at 2.88 times as compared to 4.15 times as on March 31, 2019. During the quarter, the company undertook several measures to bolster the balance sheet, including successfully raising USD 2 billion of equity through the Qualified Institutional Placement, USD 1 billion in Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds and USD 250 million in Perpetual Bonds (tap on existing bonds).

Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said: "These are unprecedented times for every one across the world as we battle the impact of COVID-19 and its consequent impact on livelihoods. Even in this difficult time, it is our investments in network technologies coupled with our culture of customer obsession that has allowed us to keep the nation connected and serve our customers. It is abundantly clear today that telecom has played an essential role in keeping the country going. We are therefore hopeful that the government will implement the recommendations of the TRAI and the intent of the New Telecom Policy and bring down the high levels of regulatory levies and taxes that the sector is subjected to.

The quarter gone by saw healthy revenue growth of 14.4% YoY with mobile business growing at 21.8%. This was driven by two factors - sustained momentum of 4G customer additions of over ~ 12.5 Mn coupled with improved tariffs. We continue to witness strong data traffic growth of ~74.1% YoY.

Going forward we remain committed to delivering a best in class customer experience even as we leverage our platform to build new revenue streams."

Shares of BHARTI AIRTEL LTD. was last trading in BSE at Rs.539.5 as compared to the previous close of Rs. 554.1. The total number of shares traded during the day was 500496 in over 8352 trades.

The stock hit an intraday high of Rs. 559.15 and intraday low of 535.05. The net turnover during the day was Rs. 274669826.

Source : Equity Bulls

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