Idea Cellular declines 4% on Rs 326 crore Q4 loss

NEW DELHI: Shares of Idea Cellular dropped over 4 per cent in Monday’s trade after the company reported a consolidated loss of Rs 325.6 crore for the March quarter.

The telecom operator had reported a loss of Rs 384 crore in the December quarter and a profit of 451.70 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Following the numbers, the stock fell 4.22 per cent to hit a low of Rs 88.40 on BSE.

Consolidated net sales for the quarter came in at Rs 8,109.10 core, down 14.5 per cent YoY over Rs 9,458 crore in the same quarter last year. Analysts in an ET Now poll had predicted Rs 8,059.77 crore revenue for the quarter.

The company “withstood the undpredented attacjk by new enterant, adding a healthy 6.2 million new customers during the quarter, the company said in a filing to BSE.

The company on March 20th announced a merger with Vodafone PLC. Idea noted that a joint merger notification has been filed with CII and the scheme of arrangement has been filed with Sebi and stock exchanges for the approval.

“The company remains confident to capitalise on the emerging opportunities in mobile, voice, digital content, mobile banking and wireless data business as telecom market invariably moves towards consolidation with 5 major providers,” the company said.