Bharti Airtel trades in the red after company reports 26% QoQ decline in Q3 profit

Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd were trading in the red zone, falling 2% in Wednesday's trade despite the telecom operator reporting strong Q3FY23 profits.

The company's consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December surged 92% on year to ₹1,588 crore aided by good growth across businesses.

In the third quarter of the current fiscal year, total revenue increased by almost 20% to ₹35,804 crore, aided by strong and consistent performance delivery across the portfolio.

Gopal Vittal, the Managing Director of Bharti Airtel, stated that the company achieved another quarter of reliable and aggressive development across all businesses.

"Revenue grew sequentially by 3.7 per cent while EBITDA margin expanded to 52 per cent. Our strategy of winning quality customers has helped us add 6.4 million 4G customers and exit the quarter with an industry leading average revenue per user (ARPU) of ₹193," said Vittal in an exchange filing.

According to Prashanth Tapse, Research Analyst, Sr VP Research of Mehta Equities, overall Bharti Airtel results were in line with street expectations. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) margin as well as ARPU saw marginal raise below expectations while profit after taxes (PAT) was down by 26% on quarter due to onetime provisions.

"We would remain optimistic on Airtel 5G upgrades and launches, which would get more high-value consumers in coming quarters along with expected tariff hikes in FY23… Technically the counter is witnessing selling pressure and can test below 755-750 levels," added Tapse.

The weekly average delivery volume of the stock is 64.2%.

According to a MintGenie poll, 30 analysts on an average recommend 'buy' rating for the stock.