Indus Towers tanks 5%, hits over 2-year low on reporting net loss in Q3

Shares of Indus Towers hit an over two-year low of Rs 162.80 as they slipped 5 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade after the company posted a net loss of Rs 708 crore in the third quarter (October-December) of financial year (Q3FY23), mainly due to provision for doubtful debt of Rs 2,201 crore and exceptional charge of Rs 493 crore.

The company had made a net profit of Rs 872 crore in September quarter (Q2FY23).
The loss in the books was a result of adoption of stringent accounting practices by the company due to continued shortfall in collections from one of the major customers, Indus Tower said in a statement.

The stock hit its lowest level since October 2020. Thus far in the month of January, it has dipped 14 per cent, as compared to 0.63 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. At 09:21 AM Indus Towers traded 1 per cent lower at Rs 169.15, as against 0.32 per cent fall in the benchmark index.

In Q3FY23, the company's revenues were down 12.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and 5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) at Rs 6,765 crore. The reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (ebitda) were down 68.6 per cent YoY at Rs 1,163 crore, with Ebitda margins down 36 percentage points YoY at 17.2 per cent. The company provided against doubtful debts of Rs 2,270 crore against dues from Vodafone Idea.

Indus Towers is India's leading provider of passive telecom infrastructure and it deploys, owns and manages telecom towers and communication structures for various mobile operators.

The company's portfolio of over 187,000 telecom towers makes it one of the largest tower infrastructure providers in the country with presence in all 22 telecom circles. Indus Towers caters to all wireless telecommunication service providers in India.

The management said the company's strong business fundamentals have enabled us to deliver a steady operational performance during the quarter. “Our financial performance remains impacted as we have adopted stringent accounting practices amid persistent shortfall in collections,” the management said.

The rapid rollout of 5G services across the country marks an exciting phase for the telecom sector. Indus being the leading tower infrastructure Company, stands to benefit from this opportunity and continues to participate in this journey, it added.

The tenancy addition momentum has been led by 5G rollout by Airtel. Vodafone Idea collection delays and company’s exposure as service provider (~35 per cent plus revenues, in our view) remains the key area of concern. We remain watchful on the overall prospects until there is improvement in dues collections from Vodafone Idea, ICICI Securities said in a note.