Airtel Recommends Dividend Of Rs 8/Equity Share; Q4 Net Profit Declines 31%

New Delhi: Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a 31 percent decline in its net profit. Airtel's consolidated net profit for the Jan-March quarter of 2023-24 stood at at Rs 2,072 crore as compared to Rs 3,006 crore in the same period of the previous year.

The telecom company posted a 4 percent increase in revenue from operations during the quarter at Rs 37,599 crore from Rs 36,009 crore in the same period last year.

Airtel's board of directors have recommended a dividend of Rs 8 per equity share of Rs 5 face value.

"The Board has considered and recommended a final dividend of Rs. 8/- per fully paid-up equity share of face value Rs. 5/- each and Rs. 2/- per partly paid-up equity share of face value Rs. 5/- each (paid-up value Rs.1.25/- per share) for the financial year 2023-24. The dividend is in proportion to the amount paid-up on each equity share of face value Rs. 5/- each," the company said in a regulatory filing.

It added, "The above final dividend, if approved by the shareholders at the ensuing Annual General Meeting ('AGM'), shall be credited within 30 days from the date of AGM."

"We ended the year on a strong note with consistent performance across all businesses, both on customer metrics as well as financial parameters. India revenue (adjusted for Beetel) grew by 1.7% with EBITDA margin expanding to 54.1%, despite one day less in the quarter. Consolidated performance was impacted primarily by the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira. We added 7.8 million smart phone customers and delivered an industry leading ARPU of Rs. 209. Our relentless focus on improving customer experience has resulted in 20% churn reduction during the quarter. Our simple and clear strategy coupled with razor-sharp focus on execution enabled us to end the quarter with life-time high market share across all businesses. Our efforts on digitizing Airtel are now gathering velocity and is being visibly felt across all parts of our operations. At the same time, our return on capital employed continues to remain low due to the absence of tariff repair in the industry,” Gopal Vittal, MD Airtel said.