Including developed Asian economies, Airtel is the fifth most valuable behind China Mobile, and Japanese players NTT, NTT Docomo and KDDI Corporation
Indian telecom company Bharti Airtel has snagged the second spot as Asia’s most valuable company in the emerging markets (EMs), China Mobile tops the list. the Business Standard reported citing Bloomberg data.
A surge in share price and equity expansion in 2019 helped Airtel climb the list.The company now has a market capitalisation (m-cap) of almost $41 billion while front-runner China Mobile maintained its first-spot with m-cap of $145 billion. Airtel beat Emirates Telecom, Telekom Indonesia and China Unicom to the spot.
Airtel made strides in the segment as, over the past year, its stock was the best-performing one globally. The company clocked m-cap rise at 135 percent against 7 percent rise in combined m-cap of top 50 mobile operators worldwide, the paper said.
The top-50 increased m-cap to $1.62 trillion from $1.52 trillion (6.3 percent increase), excluding Airtel from this makes the increase at 5.6 percent.
Analysts attribute Airtel stock’s outperformance to investors betting on the probable duopoly and consequent consolidation by the company in the Indian telecom space. Vodafone Idea is struggling to foot the large AGR bills while Airtel has managed to pull through thanks to its investors and expanded m-cap.
Given Vodafone-Idea’s legal and monetary hassles, analysts at Credit Suisse feel the company investors’ (Aditya Birla and Vodafone Group) reluctance to infuse capital indicates a strong possibility of the telco going bankrupt.
World stage
Including developed Asian economies, Airtel is the fifth most valuable (based on m-cap) behind China Mobile, and Japanese players NTT, NTT Docomo and KDDI Corporation. This is two spots better than last year, with it beating out South Korea’s SK Telecom and Telekom Indonesia.
In terms of revenues in Asia, the company comes in at the sixth spot with $12 billion, behind Emirates Telecom.
Globally, Airtel is at 11 in terms of m-cap and at 17 in terms of revenue.
The United States’ AT&T leads with m-cap of $275 billion and $181 billion revenues, followed by Verizon Communications with $240 billion m-cap and $132 billion revenues. They dominate on m-cap and revenue basis.Exclusive offer: Use code "BUDGET2020" and get Moneycontrol Pro's Subscription for as little as Rs 333/- for the first year.
