Idea Cellular drags Aditya Birla Nuvo’s net profit down 56% in fourth quarter

The net profit of Aditya Birla Nuvo, part of the Aditya Birla conglomerate, fell by over half in the March 2016 quarter, led by losses in its telecom arm Idea.

Consolidated net profit stood at ₹115 crore in Q4FY17, down 56.76 per cent from the ₹266 crore the company had reported a year ago.

For the full year, consolidated net profit fell by 43.7 per cent to ₹908 crore, against ₹1,613 crore in FY16.

Idea Cellular, the third largest telecom operator in the country by revenue share, last Saturday reported consolidated net loss of ₹325.6 crore on a 14 per cent fall in revenue to ₹8,126.1 crore for the March 2016 quarter as it lost customers to the rapidly expanding Jio network from Reliance Industries.

A statement from Aditya Birla Nuvo said, “the net profit of Idea Cellular has been impacted due to free voice and mobile data services by the new entrant in the sector, coupled with higher interest and amortisation costs.”

The company’s financial services businesses had a good quarter.

Aditya Birla Financial Services, the NBFC, reported revenue rising 23 per cent to ₹10,341 crore.

Aditya Birla Nuvo’s various businesses that manufacture linen, urea, viscose filament yarn and insulators reported a 12 per cent drop in combined revenues at ₹4,974 crore “due to the pass through of reduction in natural gas prices in the agri business, coupled with lower volumes in the textiles and the insulators businesses,” the statement said.

Aditya Birla Nuvo spent ₹285 crore on capital expenditure on its divisions, ₹413 crore as capital infusion in the financial services businesses and ₹158 crore as equity investment in payment bank and solar power businesses.

For FY18, the company is planning capex of about ₹200 crore for its divisions including ongoing linen yarn and viscose filament yarn expansions.

Shares of Aditya Birla Nuvo closed down 3.86 per cent at ₹1,636.85 on the BSE on Thursday