Bharti Airtel has disappointed investors by reporting a fall in profits for an eighth straight quarter. Consolidated net profit tumbled 22% to Rs1,011 crore. That was on a 17% rise in revenues to Rs18,477 crore. Airtel said some of the decline was caused by higher tax provisioning after some tax holidays came to an end. Meanwhile the company’s key measure of profitability—its average revenue per user- has also fallen. In India, Bharti Airtel reported a 6% drop to Rs187. And in Africa it fell 3% to $7.1. And not surprisingly, the poor earnings sent Airtel’s shares down on Wednesday. They dropped 6.58% on the BSE to 354 on a day the Sensex gained 0.48%.
Staying with earnings, U-S-based IT firm Cognizant Technology has beaten estimates once again. The company’s revenue rose 27% in the fourth quarter to $1.66 billion. Net income went climbed to $240 million from $206 million in the same period last year. This is the ninth straight quarter in which Cognizant has beaten Wall Street estimates.
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Aritel’s profits fall after slow growth and higher taxes; annual car sales could decline for the first time in a decade; markets end Wednesday in the green
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And finally, Indian markets rebounded on Wednesday after the previous session’s losses. The Sensex jumped up 85 points to 17,707. And the Nifty climbed 33 to 5,368.