Bharti Airtel Q4 net falls 31.5 p.c., lags forecast

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Bharti Airtel, India's top mobile phone carrier, on Thursday reported a bigger-than-expected 31.5 percent fall in quarterly profit compared to the year-ago quarter, hit by losses at its African operations.

Bharti, 32.3-per cent owned by Southeast Asia's biggest phone firm SingTel, said consolidated net profit fell to Rs. 1,400 crore ($314 million) for its fiscal fourth quarter ended March, from Rs. 2,044 crore a year earlier.

Total Income has increased from Rs 10,770.50 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 to Rs 16,304.20 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2011.

The Group also said it posted a net profit of Rs. 6,046.70 crore for the year ended March 31, 2011 as compared to Rs. 8,976.80 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010. Total income has increased from Rs. 41,916.90 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010 to Rs. 59,601.80 crore for the year ended March 31, 2011.

The results were based on international accounting standards.

A Reuters poll of 10 brokerages had on average expected net profit of Rs 1,632 crore for the New Delhi-based firm, which last June acquired mobile operations in 15 African countries from Kuwait's Zain in a $9 billion deal and became the world's fifth-biggest mobile carrier by number of subscribers.

(With inputs from Reuters)