Shares in India's No. 2 mobile operator, Reliance Communications, fell as much as 3 percent on Monday after the firm reported lower quarterly profit and doubts remained about the sector's outlook.The company, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, said on Saturday March quarter profit fell an annual 16 percent to 12.20 billion rupees ($267 million) as wafer-thin call tariffs squeezed margins.The earnings were, however, above a Reuters poll forecast of 8.52 billion rupees, but this was because of an increase in interest income.The net profit was boosted by 8.1 billion rupees of net interest income on the company's loans due to foreign exchange gains, according to detailed financial statement for the quarter released on Monday.The net interest income almost doubled from 4.1 billion rupees in the December quarter.Shares in Reliance Communications were trading 2 percent lower at 141.55 rupees by 0739 GMT in a Mumbai market that was down 1.8 percent.The stock, which was the worst performer among the components of the main index in 2009, has also underperformed the broader market so far this year as falling phone call charges amid a price war among operators has clouded earnings growth potential.Reliance Communications has been more aggressive in cutting call charges than larger rival Bharti Airtel, and earlier this month said it would offer unlimited call time to its CDMA users at a monthly price of just $13.Reliance Communications' revenue for the March quarter dropped 17 percent to 50.93 billion rupees from 61.24 billion rupees reported in the year-ago quarter, and was lower than the Reuters poll forecast of 53.54 billion rupees.Average revenue per user, a key metric for telecoms carriers, fell to 139 rupees from 149 rupees in the December quarter and compared with 224 rupees in the year-ago quarter.Reliance Communications will hold a conference call for analysts at 0900 GMT.(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)(For more business news on Reuters Money visit http://www.reutersmoney.in)News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
Click here to read more news from www.newsinfoline.com
Please follow our blogs
newsinfolinephotogallery
prabugallery
newsinfolinephotogallery1
photogallery1
No comments:
Post a Comment