Aditya Birla Group company Idea Cellular is likely to report profit degrowth in October-December quarter but revenue and volume may rebound from seasonally weak second quarter. Profit is seen falling 6 percent sequentially to Rs 760 crore while revenue may grow 3.9 percent to Rs 9,030 crore in quarter gone by, according to analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. Earnings will be announced on January 21.
Analysts expect volume growth of 4.5 percent at 198 billion minutes during the quarter compared to 189.5 billion minutes in preceding quarter. In Q2FY16, revenue declined 1.2 percent and volume was down 3.2 percent on sequential basis.
Operating profit may rise 3.8 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 3,172 crore and margin may contract 6 basis points to 35.12 percent in Q3.
Sequential margin trajectory in Q3FY16 is likely to be weaker than normal on account of accelerated network expansion and increased pressure on subscriber acquisition costs driven by likely increase in churn rates.
In key performance indicators, analysts expect pricing pressure to continue with revenue per minute falling to 45.1 paise from 45.3 paise on sequential basis and voice revenue per minute down 1.6 percent to 32.16 paise from 32.7 paise. Voice RPMs declined for five consecutive quarters, down around 12 percent in this period upto Q2FY16.
Minutes of usage per month may increase to 391 during the quarter compared to 386 in preceding month. In same period, average revenue per user is likely to rise to Rs 176.25 per month from Rs 175.
Analysts say data growth may be good in December quarter but has started showing signs of deceleration. In Q2, data volume growth was at 83 percent year-on-year that slowed from earlier growth of 100 percent Y-o-Y.
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