Reliance Jio effect: Bharti Airtel FY19 profit halves to Rs 168.75 crore

Bharti Airtel closed the financial year 2018-19 with a 62.7 per cent year-on-year decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 409.50 crore, dented by a continuing tariff war with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio.

"The telecom major had posted consolidated net profit at Rs 1,099 crore in the previous fiscal," Bharti Airtel said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

On a standalone basis, Airtel reported a loss of Rs 1,829.00 crore in financial year 2018-19  against a profit of Rs 79.20 crore in FY18.

Consolidated revenue from operations dipped marginally by 2.24 per cent to Rs 80,780.20 crore from Rs 82,638.80 crore in the year ago period.

India mobile services revenue decreased to Rs 41,554 crore versus Rs 46,263.90 crore in previous financial year. However, Africa revenue climbed to Rs 21,502.80 crore from Rs 19,107.30 crore during the same period.

Also Read: Reliance Jio posts net profit of Rs 840 crore in Q4 FY19, to focus on GigaFiber

On the quarterly basis, the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led firm reported a 29.31 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 107.2 crore in Q4FY19, compared to Rs 82.9 crore in the same quarter last year, marking its first increase in profit after 11 quarters.

The company swung to profit on an exceptional gain of Rs 2,022 crore, the Delhi-based telecom company said in the exchange filing.

During January-March quarter, the company's revenue from operations rose by 6.22 per cent to Rs 20,602.20 crore from Rs 19,394.50.

"Subsequent to the balance sheet date May 3, the company has launched a rights issue of approximately 1,134 million fully paid up equity shares (face value Rs 5 each) at a price of Rs 220 per share aggregating to Rs 24,939 crore. The right issue will close on May 17," Airtel said in a regulatory filing.

During the quarter ended March 31, 2019, Airtel Networks Kenya Ltd. (a subsidiary of the Bharti Airtel group) signed an agreement with Telkom Kenya Limited, to merge its operations.

Also Read: Reliance Jio beats Airtel to become India's 2nd largest telecom company

Last week, the company's Africa arm posted a net profit of USD 83 million in the March quarter, compared to a loss of USD 49 million a year earlier, helped by increase in transaction value on its Airtel Money platform and higher data consumption on its network.

Ahead of earnings announcement, shares of Bharti Airtel closed trade 0.69 per cent higher at Rs 333.40 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Monday.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar