Bharti Airtel net profit rises 39.28% in Q4

Bharti Airtel reported a 39.28% growth in its fourth-quarter earnings at Rs 17,923 million compared with Rs 12,868.40 million in the corresponding quarter, a year ago.

Net sales rose 42.06% to Rs 74,137.30 million for the fourth quarter ended Mar. 31, 2008 as against Rs 52,187.30 million in the corresponding quarter, a year ago. Total income also rose 41.82% to Rs 74,468.20 million, up from Rs 52,507.70 million in the fourth quarter, a year ago.
The basic EPS after extraordinary items stood at Rs 9.44 for the quarter ended March 2008.

Annual Results:

Bharti Airtel reported 54.82% increase in net profit to Rs 62,442 million for the year ended March 2008 as against Rs 40,332.20 million, a year ago. Net sales rose 44.45% to Rs 257,035.10 million for the year ended Mar. 31, 2008 as against Rs 177,944.30 million in the previous year.
Total income also rose 45.01% to Rs 259,393.70 million as against Rs 178,879.90 million in the last year.

The basic EPS after extraordinary items stood at Rs 32.91 for the year ended March 2008.
Commenting on the results and performance, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, said, This has been another year of record growth for the telecom industry and Bharti Airtel. The Indian telecom story is now entering the second wave of growth, which will come from rural India. The coming year will be an exciting one for the company as we launch our services in new segments such as DTH and go live with our operations in Sri Lanka. Going forward, we see another year of strong demand in all business segments and we will continue to build on our organisational strengths. Shares of the company were last trading up Rs 62.8, or 7.44%, at Rs 907. The total volume of shares traded at the BSE was 638,983. (10.26 a.m., Friday)