scorecardresearchIndus Towers slides 13.5% to hit 52-week low as company posts ₹708 crore

Indus Towers slides 13.5% to hit 52-week low as company posts 708 crore net loss in Q3

Updated: 27 Jan 2023, 12:33 PM IST
TL;DR.

Indus Towers' shares dropped to their 52-week low after the company reported a 708 crore net loss due to a provision of 2,298.1 crore towards doubtful debt in the same period. The stock has declined nearly 44 percent in the last one year and is trading 48 percent below its 52-week high.

Indus Towers Limited is an India-based telecom tower company.

Indus Towers Limited is an India-based telecom tower company.

Shares of Indus Towers  slumped 13.5 percent to touch a new 52-week low on Friday, January 27, after the company reported a 708 crore net loss in the third quarter of the fiscal year due to a provision of 2,298.1 crore towards doubtful debt in the same period.

This was largely attributed to challenges around the payment commitments of a key customer that is likely to be Vodafone Idea. Prior to this, Indus Towers had reported a 1,571 crore net profit a year ago.

During Friday’s trade, the stock opened at a price of Rs. 157 per share closely against the previous close of Rs. 157.90 per share and plunged further during the early trading session to touch an intraday low of Rs. 136.55. It was trading at 138.65 apiece, down by 12.19 percent, at 11:50 a.m. on the BSE.

The stock touched a 52-week high of Rs. 269 on February 16, 2022, indicating that at the current level, the stock is trading 48 percent below its 52-week high.

The stock has declined over 28 percent in the last one month. In the past six months, it has yielded a negative return of nearly 37.63 percent. Furthermore, the stock has declined almost 44 percent in the last one year.

Article
Stock price chart of Indus Towers

On Wednesday, Indus Towers said that it has received no new proposal for an updated payment plan from the Vi, and asserted that the situation remains dynamic. While payments for January have yet to be made, Indus Towers has received a 'significant part' of the instalment-based payments from Vi for the October-December period.

During Q3FY23, the funding plan of the said customer has not materialised and although the committed part payment till December has been received, the customer has indicated challenges in complying with the higher payment plan in future, the company stated in an official filing.

The company reported a revenue of 6,765 crore for the December FY23 quarter, down 2.3 percent over the last year, and its EBITDA plunged 68 percent to 1,185.8 crore from the year-ago period.

EBITDA margin for the quarter at 17.5 percent dropped from 53.47 percent in the corresponding period last financial year, hit by other expenses that jumped nearly 20-fold to 2,418 crore in Q3FY23.

Total number of towers grew 0.8 percent sequentially and 2.5 percent annually to 1,89,392 as of December FY23, while total number of co-locations rose by 0.4 percent sequentially (1.3 percent on year) to 3,39,435.

In other news, the board of Vodafone Idea will meet on Tuesday to discuss a proposal to issue Rs. 1,600 crore debentures to mobile tower vendor ATC Telecom Infrastructure.

Indus Towers is a provider of tower and related infrastructure, and deploys, owns and manages telecom towers and communication structures for various mobile operators.

According to a MintGenie poll, 20 analysts on an average have a ‘HOLD’ call on the stock.

Article
How to choose the right stock
First Published: 27 Jan 2023, 12:33 PM IST