Shares of Bharti Airtel, a leading telecommunications company in India, rose over 2% to reach an intraday high of ₹1,833 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) following the announcement of its Q4 results. The company reported a 34% year-on-year decline in consolidated net profit, amounting to ₹7,325 crore, despite a 16% increase in revenue, which totaled ₹55,383 crore. This revenue growth was bolstered by strong performance in both its India and Africa operations. Specifically, revenue from India operations rose 8% year-on-year to ₹39,566 crore, while the Africa segment experienced a 1.1% quarter-on-quarter growth in constant currency terms.

The consolidated EBITDA increased by 17% to ₹32,038 crore, with an EBITDA margin improvement of 60 basis points to 57.8%. Morgan Stanley has maintained an 'Overweight' rating on Bharti Airtel, setting a target price of ₹2,450, indicating a potential upside of 37.5% from current levels. The brokerage highlighted the strong performance of the home services segment, which saw a 37.3% year-on-year revenue increase, driven by the expansion of broadband, WiFi, and IPTV services.

In terms of capital expenditure, Airtel invested ₹16,066 crore in Q4, focusing on 5G densification, fiber deployment, and enterprise services. The company also reported improvements in its balance sheet, with the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio decreasing to 1.29 times from 1.86 times a year earlier. Additionally, Airtel added 5.8 million smartphone users and 0.8 million postpaid customers during the quarter, with an average revenue per user (ARPU) of ₹257. Strategic initiatives included partnerships with Google for enhanced spam protection and the launch of an AI and Cyber Threat Research Center with Zscaler.