Indus Towers profit drops 23% to Rs1,399 crore in Q4 FY23
2 min read 26 Apr 2023, 10:47 PM IST- Indus Towers MD and CEO Prachur Sah says the rapid pace of 5G rollouts and new tower rollouts supported by its major customer’s focus on expansion are expected to act as strong levers of growth for the foreseeable future
PremiumNEW DELHI : Indus Towers reported a 23% fall in profit for the quarter ended March 2023 to ₹1,399 crore versus ₹1,828 crore in the same quarter in the previous financial year, while revenues declined by 5% in the period to ₹6,752 crore from ₹7,116 crore.
“We ended the year on a positive note with a robust operational performance and improvement in collections during the last quarter. The renewal of co-locations with our major customers during the year has secured our business over the long run," said Prachur Sah, Managing Director and CEO, Indus Towers Limited.
He added that the rapid pace of 5G rollouts and new tower rollouts supported by its major customer’s focus on expansion are expected to act as strong levers of growth for the foreseeable future.
The financials of Q4 2021-22 included one-time positive impact of ₹547 Crores on account of deferred recognition of revenue from past settlements. In 2022-23, the Company adhered to prudent accounting practices and reflected the stress on its receivables due to collection challenges faced from one of the major customers, the company said Wednesday. The company alluded to debt-laden Vodafone Idea but did not name the customer.
For the full year ended March 2023, profit fell sharply, by 67% to ₹2,759 crore from ₹8,430 crore in the previous year, as it took on exceptional charge of ₹492 crore as it took impairment of revenue equalization reserve up to September 30, 2022 for a large customer.
Revenue for the full year stood at ₹28,382 crore, up 2% from the year before. India’s largest mobile phone tower provider made provisions of ₹5307.7 crore against doubtful debt and advances for FY23 while for the quarter ended March, it made provisions of ₹35.4 crore. The provisions made an impact on the company’s cash flows as operating free cash flow during the quarter fell by 58% on-year to ₹1155 crore and adjusted fund from operations fell by 23% on-year to ₹2464 crore.
For the quarter ended March 31, 2023, earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation were at ₹3446 crore, down by 15.3% on-year, and EBITDA margin stood at 51%.
The total number of towers operated by Indus increased to 192,874 as of March 2023, up from 185,447 a year ago and 189,392 a quarter ago. Sharing revenue per tower per month was at ₹73,535 for the quarter ended March 2023, down 14% from ₹85,445 a year ago but marginally up from ₹73,283 a quarter ago.