Idea Cellular rings the wrong tune

Idea Cellular is currently the top loser on the BSE, down over 7% intra day at Rs.105.60, a new 52-week low.

The stock is down, reacting to the Q3FY16 numbers. The company posted a 6% (QoQ) decline in consolidated net profit at Rs.764 crore though revenue rose 4% at Rs.9010 crore. The bottomline was hit on account of lower other income and higher interest outgo.

Its Interest outgo was at Rs.866 crore, up 19% as its debt rose by a huge 70% to Rs.37,690 crore and this was on account of additional charges related to new spectrum launch. Other income was down 9% at Rs.31 crore. Depreciation was up over 5%.

The company’s EBITDA was up over 2% at Rs.3128 crorw while margins slipped by a big 50 bps to 34.7%.  Volumes were better, showing a growth of 5%. Voice minutes volume was up to 199.2 billion minutes v/s 189.5 billion minutes in Q2. Mobil data volume (2G+3G+4G) increased by 76% to 81 billion MB in Q3.