Vodafone Idea shares fall over 3% as Q1 net loss widens to Rs 7,840 crore

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Vodafone Idea (Vi) fell over 3% to Rs 8 in Wednesday's trade on BSE after the telecom operator reported a loss of Rs 7,840 crore for the quarter ended June 2023, which is higher than Rs 7,297 crore reported in the year-ago quarter and Rs 6,419 crore in the preceding March quarter. However, its revenue from operations rose by a marginal 2% to Rs 10,655 crore in the first quarter, compared with Rs 10,410 crore in the same quarter of last year. ARPU for the first quarter came in at Rs 139 as against Rs 135 in the previous quarter, showing a sequential growth of 2.9%.

The company reported an EBITDA of Rs 4,157 crore in the reporting quarter, while margins stood at 39%. EBIT loss for the quarter stood at 1,459 crore. “The eighth consecutive quarter of growth in average daily revenue, ARPU and 4G subscribers, clearly reflect our ability to effectively operate and compete in the market," said Akshaya Moondra, CEO of Vodafone Idea.

Capex spending for the quarter stood at Rs 450 crore. «We remain engaged with our lenders for further debt fundraising as well as with other parties for equity or equity-linked fund raising, to make required investments for network expansion, including 5G rollout,” Moondra said. The 4G subscriber base continued to grow for the eighth consecutive quarter and stood at 122.9 million as of June 2023 as against 122.6 million in the preceding quarter.

However, the overall subscriber base declined to 221.4 million versus 225.9 million in Q4FY23. At 11.07 am, the stock was trading 2% lower at Rs 7.9 on BSE. In the last one year, the stock declined over 11%, while it has plunged nearly 75% in the past five years.