Bharti Airtel down 1.5% ahead of Q4 result

09/05/2017 11:58

Shares of Bharti Airtel witnessed selling pressure in early trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange as investors remained cautious ahead of the fourth quarter earnings report slated to be released later in the day.

Ahead of Q4, shares of the company declined as much as 1.65 per cent to hit intra-day low of Rs 345.20 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The scrip was currently trading at Rs 345.65 against previous close price of Rs 351.25.

In a similar fashion, stocks of firm were trading 1.55 per cent lower at Rs 345.85 apiece on the National Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, the broader benchmark BSE Sensex was trading at 29,944.85, up 18.70 points or 0.06 per cent, at 11:55 hour.

Markets trading higher; Bharti Airtel, ITC shares advance

02/02/2017 10:19 The key domestic benchmark indices were trading higher in the morning trading session tracking mixed cues from fellow Asian peers, as traders digested the impact of Union Budget on Dalal Street. The Infra stocks were in focus today as infra got a major push in the budget with announcement of reduced corporate income tax rates for medium and small enterprises (MSME), infrastructure status to affordable housing, allocation of Rs 500 crore for setting up Mahila Shakti Kendra at village level and expansion of BharatNet project besides many others. Some support may also come later in the day with report that growth in eight core sectors expanded at a faster pace of 5.6 per cent in December 2016, against the 4.9 per cent growth recorded in November 2016, supported by double-digit expansion in the steel sector. At 10:15 a.m, the Bombay Stock Exchange bellwether Sensex was trading at 28183.45 up by 41.81 points or by 0.15 per cent, while the NSE Nifty was at 8722.85 points, trading higher by 6.45 points or by 0.07 per cent. The BSE Sensex touched an intraday high of 28194 and an intraday low of 28078.08 while the NSE Nifty touched an intraday high of 8727 and an intraday low of 8692.05 The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 354.25,+2.67 per cent), ITC Ltd. (Rs. 275.65,+2.21 per cent), NTPC Ltd. (Rs. 174.25,+2.17 per cent), ICICI Bank Ltd. (Rs. 286.85,+2.12 per cent), Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 203.80,+1.77 per cent), among others. Meanwhile, Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 530.45,-2.08 per cent), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 1270.10,-2.07 per cent), Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 1394.10,-1.47 per cent), GAIL (India) Ltd. (Rs. 477.70,-1.45 per cent), Wipro Ltd. (Rs. 450.50,-1.04 per cent), were among the top losers on BSE. The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was strong. On BSE out of total 2138 shares traded, 1272 shares advanced, 777 shares declined while 88 were unchanged. On the global front, Asian stocks were trading mixed today after Fed kept its policy rates unchanged, while the US markets closed higher in the previous trading session after a lack luster trade following the Federal Reserve’s widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged.

Bharti Airtel Q3 net drops 54.5% at Rs 503.7 cr

25/01/2017 12:32

Country’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd has reported a sharp fall of 54.5 per cent in its consolidated net profit after taxes (PAT) at Rs 503.7 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2016, hit by lower revenue as its voice and data businesses felt the heat of rival Reliance Jio’s free services that resulted in a full-blown rate war.

“The consolidated net profit of India’s top mobile carrier by subscribers, stood at Rs 1,108.1 crore during the same period a year ago,” said Bharti Airtel Ltd in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Further, consolidated total income of the world’s third largest telecom operator plunged by 2.9 per cent to Rs 23,415.6 crore during Q3 FY17, as compared to Rs 24,103.4 crore during same quarter last fiscal.

It’s consolidated mobile data revenues stood at Rs 4,049 crore, Y-o-Y flat on an underlying basis.

Commenting on the performance, Bharti, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, Gopal Vittal said, “The quarter has seen turbulence due to the continued predatory pricing by a new operator. The present termination costs at 14 paise which are well below cost has resulted in a tsunami of minutes terminating into our network. This has led to an unprecedented year on year revenue decline for the industry, pressure on margins and a serious impact on the financial health of the sector.”

Mobile data revenues stood at Rs 3,087 crore de-grew by 3 per cent Y-o-Y.

Meanwhile, shares of Bharti Airtel were trading at Rs 311 apiece, down 1.69 per cent, from previous close on BSE at 12:36 hours.

Bharti Airtel offers free data who switch to Airtel 4G

03/01/2017 17:15 Country’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd on Tuesday said it will offer free data for 12 months, worth up to Rs 9,000, to customers who switch to Airtel 4G. “Bharti Airtel announced a special offer under which, it will offer free data for 12 months, worth up to Rs 9000, to customers who switch to Airtel 4G,” the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange on January 03, 2017. The company further said that, 12 months offer is available to any customer with a 4G mobile handset that is currently not on the Airtel network. Any customer, including existing Airtel customers, upgrading to a new 4G handset can also avail this offer. Moreover, this offer will be available to customer across India starting from Wednesday and will close on February 28, 2017, it added. Additionally, customers will get free 3GB data every month till December 31, 2017 with select Prepaid and Postpaid packs under this offer. This free data benefit will be over and above the pack/plan benefits, the compaby said in a statement. Commenting on launch, Bharti Airtel, Director – Market Operations, Ajai Puri said, “We are inviting customers to experience 4G through the year on India’s fastest network. We are seeing increasing penetration of 4G handsets across the country and believe that this attractive offer will provide an opportunity to more and more customers to enjoy high speed broadband on their devices with Airtel.” Meanwhile, shares of the company closed at Rs 303.65 apiece, down 2.36 per cent, from previous close on BSE.

Markets open higher in early trade

21/12/2016 09:19 The key domestic benchmark indices opened in a positive terrain in the morning trading session tracking firm cues from fellow Asian markets, but market volume is likely to remain thin as traders begin to quiet down in the lead-up to Christmas. Shares of Bharti Airtel will remain in focus after the telecom major said that its subsidiary Network i2i has inked pact with Egyptian firm Orascom to acquire the latter’s entire equity stake in Middle East North Africa Submarine Cable Systems (MENA-SCS) At 09:15 a.m, the Bombay Stock Exchange bellwether Sensex was trading at 26330.53 up by 22.55 points or by 0.09 per cent, while the NSE Nifty was at 8089.75 points, trading higher by 7.35 points or by 0.09 per cent. The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Rs. 634.90,+1.01 per cent), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 1190.00,+0.95 per cent), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (Rs. 5145.00,+0.84 per cent), Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 304.50,+0.74 per cent), State Bank of India (Rs. 256.10,+0.61 per cent), among others. Meanwhile, Cipla Ltd. (Rs. 561.00,-0.18 per cent), Wipro Ltd. (Rs. 466.00,-0.17 per cent), Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. (Rs. 3041.00,-0.17 per cent), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (Rs. 181.80,-0.14 per cent), Reliance Industries Ltd. (Rs. 1059.00,-0.01 per cent), were among the top losers on BSE. The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was strong. On BSE out of total 303 shares traded, 223 shares advanced, 58 shares declined while 22 were unchanged. On the global front, Asian stocks were trading higher today following the record gains overnight on Wall Street as investors shrugged off geopolitical tensions mounting amidst terrorist attack on a Berlin Christmas market and the killing of the Russian ambassador to Turkey. US stocks closed higher in the previous trading session as investors continued to hope that the newly elected US President-elect Donald Trump would announce fiscal boost which will support riskier assets.

Post Session: Sensex, Nifty end marginally higher; Bharti Airtel jumps over 5%

28/11/2016 16:12 Amidst choppy trade, the Indian benchmark indices ended marginally higher on Monday on the back of gain across realty, power and oil&gas stocks, tracking firm cues from Asian peers. Banking stocks were biggest laggards as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked the cash reserve ratio over the weekend. The central bank has introduced an incremental Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), the percentage of cash deposits that banks have to maintain with RBI, of 100 per cent for the fortnight beginning Saturday. The 30-share benchmark index closed trade at 26350.17, up by 33.83 points or by 0.13 per cent, and the NSE Nifty ended at 8126.9, up by 12.6 points or by 0.16 per cent. Among the individual stock, Bharti Airtel rose over 5 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the telecom major said that its arm, International (Netherlands), has completed the acquisition of Econet Wireless’ entire 4.2 per cent shareholding in Airtel Nigeria through a wholly-owned subsidiary. In the day’s trade, the BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 26413.99 and intraday low of 26183.22, while the NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 8146.5 and intraday low of 8066.5. Outperforming the benchmark indices, the broader market ended on robust note with the BSE MIDCAP closing at 12301.29, up by 118.27 points or by 0.97 per cent, while the BSE SMLCAP settled at 12106.77, up by 79.07 points or by 0.66 per cent. The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 317.50,+5.53%), Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. (Rs. 272.20,+2.60%), ITC Ltd. (Rs. 233.50,+2.08%), Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 284.00,+2.07%), Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (Rs. 3101.50,+2.05%), among others. On the flip side, State Bank of India (Rs. 253.60,-2.82%), ICICI Bank Ltd. (Rs. 255.35,-1.73%), Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (Rs. 2277.30,-1.02%), Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (Rs. 1356.15,-0.99%), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 1163.90,-0.95%), were among top losers on BSE. On the sectoral front, realty and power stocks emerged as top gainers, adding as much as 1.91 per cent and 1.74 per cent respectively. The market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was strong. On BSE out of total shares traded 2914, shares advanced were 1744 while 979 shares declined and 191 were unchanged.

Sensex, Nifty trade flat in lackluster trade; broader market outperform

30/09/2016 14:20 The Indian equities continued their lackluster trade in final hour of day’s trade in absence of any major trigger from domestic or global front, tracking a bearish trend across markets in Asia. However, strong rally across broader markets, with Mid-cap and Small-cap gaining between 1.4 per cent to 1.5 per cent, capped day’s losses. At 2:10 PM, the Bombay Stock Exchange bellwether Sensex was at 27819.41, down by 8.12 points or by 0.03 per cent, while the NSE Nifty was at 8596.25, up by 5 points or by 0.06 per cent. Meanwhile, worries over the escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan after Wednesday night’s surgical strikes by the Indian Army in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir may also keep trading sentiment jittery at Dalal Street. Caution also prevailed ahead of the RBI’s monetary policy review on Tuesday, which will be the first meeting to be chaired by new governor Urjit Patel with investors hoping for a 25 bps interest rate cut amid the recent drop in inflation. In the day’s trade so far, the BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 27904.04 and intraday low of 27716.78, while the NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 8617.65 and intraday low of 8555.2. The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Cipla Ltd. (Rs. 582.55,-3.05%), Coal India Ltd. (Rs. 320.75,-2.00%), ITC Ltd. (Rs. 242.00,-1.45%), Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (Rs. 867.90,-1.11%), Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 312.55,-0.94%), among others. Meanwhile, GAIL (India) Ltd. (Rs. 374.25,+3.11%), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 1400.00,+2.62%), Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 255.15,+1.57%), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (Rs. 176.10,+1.44%), Wipro Ltd. (Rs. 478.90,+1.37%), were among top gainers on BSE. On the sectoral front, all the indices were trading in green, barring FMCG stocks, while realty and oil&gas stocks were leading the gain, adding as much as 2.64 per cent and 1.55 per cent respectively. The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was strong. On BSE out of total shares traded 2826, shares advanced were 1841 while 795 shares declined and 190 were unchanged.

Airtel may withstand Jio entry in telecom market: S&P

06/09/2016 10:32

S&P Global Ratings has said that Bharti Airtel’s revenue growth in India may halve over the next two fiscals, but it has enough room to weather Reliance Jio’s disruptive entry into the telecom market.

Commenting on the issue, a S&P Official told the media, “We expect Bharti Airtel’s operating performance to weaken because of competitive data tariffs and free voice calls.”

“The impact of Jio’s entry is uncertain, but on a conservative basis, it assumes that “revenue growth for its (Airtel) domestic business could decline to below 5 per cent during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018 and fiscal 2019, from about 10 per cent in fiscal 2016,” he added.

The agency also said its credit rating on Bharti Airtel was unaffected by higher competition with the launch of Reliance Jio. This is despite the assessment that Bharti Airtel’s funds from operations to debt could decline to about 23 per cent for the next 2-3 years, from 25.4 per cent in 2015-16, which is materially above S&P’s downgrade trigger of 20 per cent.

Singtel to buy stake in Bharti Telecom and Intouch Holdings

18/08/2016 12:53

Telecommunication services giant Bharti Airtel Ltd on Thursday announced in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that Singtel has reached an agreement with Temasek to buy 21 per cent stake in Intouch Holdings Public Company Limited and 7.39 per cent in Bharti Telecom Limited.

The above shareholding will be purchased for 2.47 billion Singaporean dollars with the acquisitions to be fully settled in cash and funded via a mix of internal cash, short-term debt and proceeds garnered through a share placement of 386 million new Singtel shares to Temasek totalling 1.605 billion Singaporean dollars at a price of 4.16 Singaporean dollars per new share.

The stake acquisitions and the share placement are subject to the approvals of minority shareholder and regulators.

The acquisitions are expected to lead to greater synergies, economies of scale and collaborative innovation with Intouch the largest shareholder in Thailand’s biggest mobile operator Advanced Info Services Public Company Limited (AIS) and Bharti Telecom, the holding company of Bharti Airtel Limited, the largest telecommunications company in India, operating in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa.

“Singtel has been a strategic partner to both AIS and Airtel for more than 15 years. We have built deep and trusted relationships, worked well together through the years, sharing knowledge and expertise and we have grown together, from strength to strength”, Singtel said.

Shares of Bharti Airtel surged 1.67 per cent at Rs 351 a piece at 12:51 PM IST on Thursday on the BSE.

Bharti Airtel board approves buyback of equity shares

28/04/2016 10:03

India’s leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd said that its Board of Directors has approved the buyback proposal of fully paid-up equity shares of face value of Rs 5 each from its shareholders.

In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company said, “The Board of Directors of the company has considered and approved the proposal to buyback the fully paid-up equity shares of face value of Rs 5 each of the company from the shareholders of the company on a proportionate basis through a tender offer.”

The buyback shall be up to an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 1,434 crore at a price of Rs 400 per equity share translating into approximately 3,58,50,000 equity shares, representing 0.90 per cent of the total paid up equity share capital of the company, subject to the regulatory and other approvals, if any, it added.

The company further said that, its board has constituted the Committee of Directors to finalize other terms and appointment of intermediaries for the buyback and administer the buyback procedure.

Meanwhile, shares of the company were trading at Rs 379.85 apiece, up 1.80 per cent, from previous close on BSE at 10:02 hours.