India-based Bharti Airtel reported revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter to March up 13.5 percent year-on-year to INR 222.2 billion. The company grew revenues 11.6 percent in its home market and 3 percent abroad, helped by stronger voice pricing in India, a near doubling in mobile data revenue and customer expansion in Africa and south Asia. EBITDA improved 20.6 percent to INR 73.1 billion, and net profit jumped 89.1 percent to 9.6 billion, supported by lower forex losses.
The operator finished the quarter with 295.9 million customers in 20 countries, up 3.0 percent from the end of 2013 and 9.1 percent more than March 2013. Quarterly growth slowed in Africa to 1.7 percent due to regulatory issues, notably a sales ban in Nigeria, giving Airtel 69.44 million customers on the continent at end-March. In India, mobile customers grew 3.5 percent in the three months to 205.52 million, TV subscribers were up 2.3 percent to 9.01 million, and fixed customers were unchanged at 3.36 million.
Airtel reduced capex to INR 105.8 billion last year from INR 126.5 billion the previous fiscal year. This helped operating cash flow increase to INR 171.9 billion from INR 106.1 billion. Helped by a 22 percent rise in net income over the full year, Airtel raised its dividend to INR 1.80 per share from INR 1.00 last year.
