9 August 2016
1QFY17 Results Update | Sector: Telecom
Idea Cellular
Sell
BSE SENSEX
28,085
S&P CNX
8,678
CMP: INR97
TP: INR90(-8%)
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Strategy flip flops hurt growth; outlook remains uncertain
Bloomberg
Equity Shares (m)
M.Cap.(INRb)/(USDb)
52-Week Range (INR)
1, 6, 12 Rel. Per (%)
12M Avg Val (INR M)
Free float (%)
IDEA IN
3,600.4
410.1 / 6.0
168 / 97
-8/-21/-41
758
57.8
Financials & Valuation (INR b)
Y/E Mar
2016 2017E 2018E
Net Sales
359.8 385.0 407.9
EBITDA
127.8 130.0 138.0
PAT
29.1
6.8
8.5
EPS (INR)
8.1
1.9
2.4
Gr. (%)
48.1 -78.6 -70.9
BV/Sh (INR)
71.6
74.7
78.3
RoE (%)
13.0
55.5
44.7
RoCE (%)
1.5
1.4
1.3
14.8
28.7
19.2
P/E (x)
1.8
1.7
1.5
P/BV (x)
Estimate change
TP change
Rating change
EBITDA margin down sharply 570bp/150bp on QoQ/YoY:
Idea reported weak
revenue growth (1.4% behind estimates) flat QoQ, up 7.9% YoY to INR
94.9b.This was the 1
st
quarter in the last more than 20 quarters, where Idea’s
revenue growth was behind Bharti revenue growth of 2.7%/9.1% on QoQ/YoY
basis, impacting market share. EBITDA grew by a meager 3.2% YoY, down 15%
QoQ to INR INR30.7b on weak revenue growth couple with high network
operating costs increase of 540bp/180bp on QoQ/ YoY.
Two consecutive quarter of RPM increase hurt voice traffic:
Voice revenues at
INR 67b grew at a sluggish rate of 0.3%/4.7% on QoQ/YoY, led by 1.1% decline
in voice traffic on QoQ to 199.3b. MOU declined 2% QoQ to 379 on the back of
second straight quarter of voice RPM increase of 3.4% to INR 0.343, hurting
traffic growth.
Focus shifts to price led data traffic growth:
Data revenue growth continued to
decelerate to 4.3%/27% QoQ/YoY to INR 19.7b from the peak of 15-20% QoQ
growth until four quarters back. After ARMB improvement of 2.7% in 4QFY16
which dragged down data traffic growth to meager 2%, in the current quarter,
management took a sharp cut in data ARMB of 7.9% to drive volume growth of
13%/49% QoQ/YoY to 93b MBs.
Weak competitive footing, potential spectrum spend of INR 150b may not
pressure:
Idea’s Multiple variations in strategy between price and volume has
led to loss of market share. Additionally, it has pushed Idea on a weak footing
with highest voice RPM and weak traffic growth in Voice business. In data
business, it’s ‘just in time spectrum acquisition’ strategy may not be successful,
as it will be forced to spend about INR 150b toward data led spectrum in the
upcoming auction. Idea may be forced to play the catch up game with the
competition’s data network reach and to support data growth.
Weak competitive footing, heavy capex may put pressure on valuation:
We
expect EBITDA growth of 2%/6% for FY17E/18E led by 180bp margin decline in
FY17E on the back of weak revenue growth and rising network cost on cell site
addition. Our numbers don’t factor any incremental investment in the
upcoming auction. The stock trades at EV/EBITDA of 6x/5.4 on FY17E/18E. We
recommend Sell on the stock with price target of INR 90 based on 5.0x
EV/EBITDA on FY18.
Aliasgar Shakir
(Aliasgar.shakir@MotilalOswal.com); +91 22 3010 2415
Jay Gandhi
(Jay.Gandhi@MotilalOswal.com); +91 22 6129 1546
Investors are advised to refer through important disclosures made at the last page of the Research Report.
Motilal Oswal research is available on www.motilaloswal.com/Institutional-Equities, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Factset and S&P Capital.