Vodafone Idea Q4 Results: Loss Expands To Rs 7,675 Crore, ARPU Rises
The company's revenue fell 0.6% sequentially to Rs 10,607 crore for the quarter-ended March 2024, as compared with an estimate of Rs 10,695.6-crore.
Vodafone Idea Ltd.'s net loss rose in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, in line with analysts' estimates, while revenue was flat.
The company's revenue fell 0.6% sequentially to Rs 10,607 crore for the quarter-ended March 2024, according to an exchange filing on Monday. That compares with the Rs 10,695.6-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
Vodafone Idea Q4 FY24 Highlights (Consolidated, QoQ)
Revenue fell 0.6% to Rs 10,607 crore versus Rs 10,673 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 10,695 crore).
Ebitda down 0.3% to Rs 4,336 crore versus Rs 4,350 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 4,321.3 crore).
Margin expands 10 bps to 40.9% vs 40.8% (Bloomberg estimate: 40.4%).
Net loss rose to Rs 7,675 crore vs Rs 6,989 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 7,701.1 crore).
Average revenue per user, or ARPU, rose to Rs 146 versus Rs 145.
The company had reported an exceptional gain of Rs 755.5 crore in the third quarter, following the Telecom Tribunal's order to the Department of Telecom to adjust the amount towards licence fee and spectrum usage charges. The amount was collected by the DoT at the time of the merger between Vodafone India with Idea Cellular.
Its 4G subscriber base grew to 12.63 crore in the January-March quarter, as against 12.56 crore in the October to December period. The overall subscriber base, however, shrunk to 21.26 crore from 21.52 crore in the third quarter.
The telecom player raised Rs 18,000 crore through a follow-on public offer. Apart from GQG, other marquee investors like Fidelity Funds and Redwheel Funds subscribed to the offer through the anchor book. The Aditya Birla Group invested Rs 2,075 crore in this fundraise as well.
The company plans to utilise these funds towards coverage expansion and rollout of 5G. A total of Rs 12,750 crore will be used for capital expenditure, and nearly Rs 2,175 crore is allocated towards spectrum payments.
The remaining amount will be used towards general corporate purposes.
The company, in a statement, said that it is in discussions with a consortium of banks to raise up to Rs 25,000 crore and additional non-fund based facilities of up to Rs 10,000 crore.
The above equity funding and debt funding including non-fund based facilities are to be utilised primarily towards capex, which is expected to be in the range of Rs 50,000 to 55,000 crore over the next three years, it said.
"The capex will be towards expanding 4G population coverage in 17 priority circles, 5G launch in key cities/geographies and capacity expansion to address the increasing data demand."
Debt Position
The payment obligations to the Government stood at Rs 2,03,430 crore as of March 31, 2024, including deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs 1,33,110 crore and AGR liability of Rs 70,320 crore.
Debt from banks and financial institutions reduced 64% to Rs 4,040 crore from the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal. Optionally Convertible Debentures were reported at Rs 160 crore, as of March 31, 2024.
Shares of Vodafone Idea closed 0.38% lower on Thursday, as compared with a gain of 0.92% in the benchmark Nifty 50.
