Bharti Airtel shares gain over 3% on Q4 earnings, tower biz merger; market cap rises by Rs 5,477 cr

New Delhi: Shares of Bharti Airtel rose by over 3 percent on Wednesday, adding Rs 5,476.86 crore to its valuation, after the company’s quarterly results beat market expectations. The stock gained 3.37 percent to settle at Rs 419.80 on BSE. During the day, it soared 5.14 percent to Rs 427. At NSE, shares of the company jumped 3.34 percent to end at Rs 419.85. The stock was the top gainer on Sensex and Nifty during the day. The company’s market valuation went up by Rs 5,476.86 crore to Rs 1,67,810.86 crore. In terms of equity volume, 9.41 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over two crore shares changed hands at NSE during the day. [caption id=“attachment_4235051” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] “The earnings that came yesterday after markets hours surprised the street in a pleasant way. As expectations on the earnings, by and large, was that they might report a loss first time in 15 years. The assumption based primarily on high competition and low tariff scenario. “On the delivery of numbers last evening, Bharti Airtel reported a profit which surprised the street as they were estimating a loss. On fallback of better-than-expected results, the stock reacted in a positive manner,” said Gaurang Shah, Head Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services. Bharti Airtel, India’s largest private telecom firm, on Tuesday reported its lowest quarterly net profit in at least 14 years, as competition with free voice calls and dirt-cheap data tariffs from new entrant Reliance Jio ate into its margins. Airtel posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 82.9 crore (or 21 paisa per share) in January-March quarter of 2017-18 as compared to Rs 373.4 crore (or 93 paisa a share) in the same period last fiscal. This was the eighth consecutive drop in quarterly profit and the lowest since April-June 2004. Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Group on Wednesday announced an agreement for merger of Indus Towers and Bharti Infratel to create the largest mobile tower operator in the world outside China with over 163,000 towers across 22 telecom service areas.