Bharti Airtel Limited has declared its consolidated IFRS results for the fourth quarter and year ended March 31, 2012. Revenue growth in the fourth quarter was fuelled by increased customer additions and strong minutes growth in India. Despite a national strike for 9 days in Nigeria, Africa revenues continued its growth trend. Consolidated EBITDA margin was sustained at a robust level of 33.3% benefitting from scale and cost efficiencies.
Consolidated net profit fell to Rs 1,006 crore ($190.89 million) in the fourth quarter ended March from Rs 1401 crore a year earlier. The net income was impacted by higher costs on account of 3G license fee amortisation ( Rs. 106 crore), 3G interest costs (Rs. 84 crore), forex fluctuation losses (Rs. 132 crore) and tax provisions (Rs. 198 crore). The revenue grew at 11.6% for the full year in India & South Africa, mainly contributed by stability in pricing accompanied by growth in customer numbers. Africa, after adjusting for the number of days in Q1 FY11, grew by 18.8% in $ terms, on the back of network expansion and growing customer base.
The consolidated net income for the year declined to Rs. 4,259 crore versus Rs. 6,047 crore, impacted by higher costs on account of 3G license fee amortisation (Rs. 593 crore), 3G interest costs (Rs. 421 crore), forex fluctuation losses (Rs. 422 crore) and tax provisions (Rs. 481 crore).
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharti Airtel said, "I am pleased that the year ended with the company's customer base crossing 250 million across twenty countries, the twentieth country being Rwanda. Our launch of 4G LTE, the first in India, is testimony to our commitment to the broadband agenda."
