Tata Communications' January-March net profit jumps to ₹321.52 crore

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Tata Communications’ net profit for the quarter ended 31 March surged to ₹321.52 crore, from ₹45.1 crore in the previous quarter, but was down 1.5% from ₹326.42 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Consolidated revenue for the quarter rose 24.6% year-on-year to ₹5,692 crore. Of this, data revenue rose 26.9% to ₹4,656 crore.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amoritsation (Ebitda) rose 2% to ₹1,056 crore, but margins declined to 18.6% from 22.6% a year ago. Profit margins also slipped 156 basis points to 5.6% for the quarter ended March. For the full year, consolidated revenues jumped 17.5% to ₹20,969 crore, while data revenue crossed the ₹17,000-crore mark, rising 21.9%.

However, profit nearly halved to ₹969.6 crore for FY24, from ₹1,800 in FY23 due to higher expenses at its overseas businesses. The company's board recommended a dividend of ₹16.7 per share. Macro-economic headwinds due to conflicts and unrest in some parts of the world could potentially impact business.

“While our funnel is good, the conversion is taking more time because our customers are cautious. With the conflict happening, the cautiousness will only increase. But despite the headwinds in the international markets, we’ve seen growth, albeit on a smaller base," MD and CEO A S Lakshminarayanan said in an interaction with Mint following the results.

Margin pressures are likely to continue as the company was integrating its global acquisitions and was also spending on the operations overseas to turn them around, he added. “We’ve invested in our platforms organically. We've also invested inorganically through a couple of large acquisitions, and people have translated into a full year of costs for us," he said.