Telecom major Bharti Airtel, which today reported a lower-than-estimated earnings, warned of further EBITDA margin dilution.
Shares of the company extended their decline and fell 7 percent to hit 52-week low of Rs 273.60 after the statement.
The company also attributed the poor show of its Africa business to political pressures and inflation in the country.
Bharti Airtel Africa has seen significant divergence in the performance at the individual country-level, brokerage Motilal Oswal said in a post-earnings note today.
Sunil Mittal
According to Sunil Bharti Mittal, individual country operations in Africa stabilized considerably both in terms of customer addition rate, revenue growth and brand salience.
“Operating margins too strengthened significantly, as benefits of the low cost business model started to kick in. Overall, it has been a very steady, upwardly moving learning curve for us in the continent readying us for the next round of growth,” he said.
“Despite the tough economic environment in a few markets such as Malawi and Madagascar, we experienced growth in our revenue market share and brand preference,” Manoj Kohli, CEO (International) and joint MD, said.
He added that it may take more time to achieve a target of $5 billion in revenue and $2 billion in EBITDA from its African operations than its earlier goal to achieve them by the year ended March 2013.The targets remain “intact”, he told analysts on a conference call, but did not say how much more time it would take.
On 2G spectrum auction, the company said it expected regulator TRAI to create a level-playing field.
