Airtel Africa profits on business surge

Bharti Airtel’s Africa subsidiary has posted a net profit of USD83 million (around INR 581 crore at INR 70 a dollar exchange) for the March-end quarter, compared with a net loss of USD 49 million a year ago, boosted by a surge in data consumption and a rise in the volume of transaction value on the Airtel Money platform.

But the net income has fallen substantially and sequentially from USD123 million in the December quarter.

The Sunil Mittal company said this was due to an exceptional loss of USD7 million, “mainly on account network modernisation across various OPCOs (operating companies),” the quarterly earnings report of the company said.

The total revenue for Airtel Africa rose 6 per cent on-year to USD781 million, though it fell from USD783 million sequentially.

The net income and revenue both have fallen sequentially. Airtel Africa is in the process of a public listing on the London Stock Exchange around June this year in order to raise USD1.5-1.6 billion.

The net debt of the Africa operations has fallen to USD4,004 million from USD7,755 million a year ago period and marginally from USD4,189 million in the December quarter.

Airtel Africa serves 99 million customers in 14 countries. Its Ebidta rose 16 per cent on-year (earnings before interest tax, depreciation & amortisation) at USD354 million. On-year Ebitda margin also expanded from 42 per cent in the fiscal third quarter to 43.8 per cent in the fiscal fourth quarter.