Indus Towers Q3 Results: Company reports profit versus loss a year ago
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The telecom tower company’s net profit grew 19% sequentially, from Rs 1,295 crore in the fiscal second quarter to September 2023.
Indus has flagged continued recovery challenges from another key customer (read: Vodafone Idea), saying the latter’s funding plan had still not materialised and it had not made the committed payments pertaining to the outstanding amount due as at December 31, 2022.
It, though, added that since “the said customer” (Vi) is paying an amount largely equivalent to monthly billing since January 2023, Indus continues to recognise revenue from operations relating to this customer for the services rendered.
“Indus carries an allowance for doubtful receivables of Rs 5,699.6 crore relating to that customer (read: Vi), which covers all overdue outstanding as at end-December 2023,” the tower company said in its earnings statement Tuesday.
Nevertheless, Indus’s managing director Prachur Sah said this was the company’s third consecutive quarter of record tower additions, also mirrored in the strong financial performance supplemented by steady collections.
“We expect our major customer’s (read: Airtel) focus on its network expansion and ongoing 5G rollouts to continue yielding growth opportunities for us in the near-term. Our timely investments to capitalise on these opportunities will generate long term returns for our shareholders,” Sah added.
Indus’ consolidated revenue for the October-December quarter stood at Rs 7,199 crore, up 6.4% on-year. The company’s net finance costs dropped 97% on-year to Rs 10.7 crore.
But piling backlog of Vi’s old dues, estimated upwards of Rs 10,000 crore, though, has impacted Indus’s cash flows and
