Expect a good jump in Bharti Airtel PAT this quarter: Karan Mittal, ICICI Direct

In a chat with ET Now, Karan Mittal, Telecom Analyst, ICICI Direct, shares his views on the Bharti Airtel results. Excerpts:

ET Now: What do you make of the extraordinary write-off of Rs 221 crore?

Karan Mittal: Had that not been done, we would have been a little worried about the PAT being so drastically low. We expect a good jump in the overall PAT this quarter. Since there have been several tax demands for the company, especially in the African operations, I believe it should be pertaining to that.

ET Now: A tax write-off will have an impact on EPS and profitability. Can we afford to ignore that, since it will have an impact on earnings?

Karan Mittal: Definitely, it will have an impact on EPS. However, the kind of operations that Airtel is in, we do not value the company on EPS basis or PE basis. The reason is that there is a huge amount of investment underway for the company in the overall telecom sector as such. So you rather value the company on EV by EBITDA models. I do not think that should impact our valuations as such.