5 February 2020
3QFY20 Results Update | Sector: Telecom
Bharti Airtel
Buy
Estimate change
TP change
Rating change
Bloomberg
Equity Shares (m)
M.Cap.(INRb)/(USDb)
52-Week Range (INR)
1, 6, 12 Rel. Per (%)
12M Avg Val (INR M)
BHARTI IN
5,455
2909.7 / 40.8
538 / 269
18/34/76
4603
CMP: INR534
TP: INR620 (+16%)
Improving ARPU drives earnings
Lower network costs drive margins
The recent price hike, along with healthy 4G subscriber adds, improved
ARPU, which in turn led to an increase in EBITDA. Further, moderating
network opex and capex resulted in healthy annualized FCF.
We maintain our consol. revenue and EBITDA estimate for FY20/21. We
build in 16%/24% ARPU increase in FY20/21 to capture the recent price
hikes and the 4G subscribers-driven mix improvements.
Consol. revenue was up 4% QoQ at INR219.5b (in-line), led by growth in
both India/Africa business. Consol. EBITDA grew 5% QoQ to INR92.7b (in-
line) led by lower network cost; margin improved 30bp QoQ to 42.2%.
BHARTI reported a loss of INR10.4b at the PAT level. Excluding exceptional
items, PAT was at INR10.8b (our estimate: -INR4b) v/s INR11.2b in 2QFY20.
India wireless revenue grew 2% QoQ to INR109b, while EBITDA was flat
QoQ at INR40.1b. In 3QFY20, BHARTI reorganized its business and
transferred assets and liabilities of optics fiber to Mobile Services India,
Airtel Business and Homes Services segments (these were previously part of
Mobile Services).
Excluding reclassification, revenue grew 5% QoQ (in-line), led by bundled
net additions, 4G penetration and partial realization of price increase in
Dec’19; EBITDA grew 7% QoQ on lower network cost. SG&A cost increased
primarily due to Airtel Xtream product launch and aggressive promotion to
gain 4G subscribers, but it should moderate in the coming quarter.
Subscribers increased by 3.6m to 283m (+1% QoQ) with ARPU of INR135
(+5.5% QoQ) v/s VIL/RJio’s ARPU at INR119/INR128.
Net debt reduced by INR33.6b to INR848b (excluding lease liability). The
company generated operating FCF of INR41.7b.
Tariff hike has provided relief to the ailing telecom industry. Management
believes that industry ARPU has to reach a level of INR300 for making
investments in 5G and maintaining a healthy balance sheet.
Incremental capex will likely go down, but capacity addition should remain
strong through spectrum refarming across 900mhz/2,100mhz and
2,300mhz TDD deployment, along with backhaul debottlenecking.
Benefit of price hike should be realized by Mar’20. ARPU hike post FY20
could be a result of three factors: customer uptrading to 4G, an increase in
postpaid customer base, and another tariff hike.
BHARTI has already turned FCF positive (post-interest cost), which, in our
view, is its major strength. Increasing EBITDA, declining capex and
subsequent deleveraging should improve valuation. Further, it has raised
INR210b through QIP/FCCBs which should cushion the risk of AGR liability.
We assign EV/EBITDA of 11x to India wireless biz and 6x to Africa biz on
FY22E to arrive a TP (SOTP) of INR620 (prior: INR575).
Maintain Buy.
Our
higher multiple to India wireless biz captures expected gains from growing
market share (given VIL’s weak position) and potential government relief.
Financials & Valuations (INR b)
FY20E FY21E FY22E
Y/E March
Sales
871.9 1,018.2 1,111.8
EBITDA
365.8 457.5 508.4
Adj. PAT
3.6
21.2
27.2
EBIT Margin (%)
42.0
44.9
45.7
Adj. EPS (INR)
0.7
3.9
5.0
EPS Gr. (%)
-107.7 479.7
28.5
BV/Sh. (INR)
161.0 164.9 169.9
Ratios
Net D:E
1.2
1.0
0.8
RoE (%)
0.5
2.4
3.0
RoCE (%)
3.1
4.3
5.1
Payout (%)
0.0
0.0
0.0
Valuations
EV/EBITDA (x)
11.2
8.6
7.4
P/E (x)
801.8 138.3 107.6
P/BV (x)
3.3
3.3
3.2
Div. Yield (%)
0.0
0.0
0.0
FCF Yield (%)
-7.8
7.9
8.2
Shareholding pattern (%)
As On
Dec-19 Sep-19
Promoter
62.7
62.7
DII
14.1
13.2
FII
16.5
22.4
Others
6.7
1.7
FII Includes depository receipts
Highlights from management commentary
Dec-18
67.1
13.9
17.2
1.8
Valuation and view
Research Analyst: Aliasgar Shakir(Aliasgar.Shakir@motilaloswal.com);
+91 22 6129 1565
Suhel Shaikh
(Suhel.Ahmad@MotilalOswal.com); +91 22 5036 2611;
Anshul Aggarwal
(Anshul.Aggarwal@motilaloswal.com); +91 22 5036 2511
Investors are advised to refer through important disclosures made at the last page of the Research Report.
5 February 2020
Motilal Oswal research is available on www.motilaloswal.com/Institutional-Equities, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Factset and S&P
1
Capital.