Bharti profit misses estimates as Africa growth slows

Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s biggest mobile-phone operator, reported fourth-quarter profit that missed analyst estimates as revenue growth at its Africa business slowed.

Net income rose 89 percent to 9.62 billion rupees ($159m) in the three months ended March, New Delhi-based Bharti said. That lagged behind the 9.96 billion-rupee median of 26 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Chairman Sunil Mittal’s company was among carriers that were prohibited from selling new SIM cards last month in Nigeria, the largest telecommunications market in Africa, after missing service quality goals. Bharti, which operates in 17 African nations, is competing with carriers including MTN Group Ltd to woo users on the continent.

“It’s going to be a little bit of a difficult situation for another three or four quarters,” Aliasgar Shakir, an analyst at Elara Securities (India) Pvt., said before the earnings announcement, referring to Bharti’s Africa business. “Because they’re still in building mode and subscriber growth is not up to the mark.”

Sales increased 13 percent to 222.2 billion rupees. That missed the 223.9 billion-rupee median of 26 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Shares of Bharti fell 0.8 percent to 335 rupees at the close of trading in Mumbai, before the earnings announcement. The stock has gained 1.4 percent this year, compared with the 6.1 percent increase in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex Index.

Revenue in Africa increased 16.4 percent in the three months ended March, slowing from a 17.2 percent pace in the preceding quarter.

“The quarter was impacted by the seasonal downturn in parts of Africa and regulatory interventions in Nigeria,” Christian de Faria, CEO of Bharti’s Africa business, said in a statement. “Our teams remain focused on accelerating growth through improving the quality of network, growing the data business.”