Airtel Q4 results: Profit jumps 50% to Rs 3,006 crore; telco declares Rs 4 dividend

Bharti Airtel Ltd on Tuesday recorded a nearly 50 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in its fourth-quarter profit during the financial year 2022-23 (Q4 FY23). The telecom giant's consolidated net profit came at Rs 3,006 crore in Q4 FY23 as against Rs 2,008 crore in the same period a year ago. Airtel's revenue from operations jumped to Rs 36,009 crore in March 2023 quarter from Rs 31,500 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The telecom operator also declared a dividend of Rs 4 per fully paid-up equity shares. "For FY23, the Board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 4 per fully paid-up equity share of face value of Rs 5 each and Re 1 per partly paid-up equity share of face value of Rs 5 each (paid-up Rs. 1.25 per equity share)," the company stated in an exchange filing.

The telco's average revenue per user (ARPU), a key performance indicator for telecom firms, stood at Rs 193 in Q4 FY23, flat on a sequential basis. However, ARPU was up 8.43 per cent (YoY) from Rs Rs 178 in Q4 FY22.

On the quarterly numbers, Gopal Vittal, MD of Airtel, said, "Our consolidated revenue grew sequentially by 0.60 per cent, while EBITDA margin expanded to 52.20 per cent despite there being two fewer days in the quarter. Our focus on acquiring quality customers has resulted in 7.40 million new 4G customers, as we exit the quarter with an industry-leading ARPU of Rs 193. We are also pleased to see the increased velocity of our digital deliveries across all parts of our business. This has been due to our sustained focus on digital platforms and talent."

Vittal also mentioned that Airtel would continue to ramp up the 5G rollout and connect all major towns and key villages by the end of this year.

"Consolidated EBITDA witnessed an increase of 17.6% YoY to Rs 18,807 crore in Q4FY23. This led to an improvement in EBITDA margin from 50.8% in Q4FY22 to 52.2% in Q4FY23 on the back of continued focus on our War on Waste program to drive cost optimisation. EBITDA margins across businesses remained healthy, with India EBITDA margins improving from 50.8% in Q4FY22 to 53.1% in Q4FY23," said Airtel in a stock exchange filing.

Shares of Airtel settled 1.27 per cent lower at Rs 787.85 today, in line with overall weakness in the domestic benchmarks. The Q4 results were declared post-market hours.

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