The Hindu Business Line : RCom records 2.7% rise in Q3 profit

Mumbai, Jan. 23 The country’s second-largest mobile operator, Reliance Communications, reported a muted rise of 2.7 per cent in the third-quarter net profit to Rs 1,410.3 crore from Rs 1,372.8 crore as the average revenue generated per subscriber continued to decline. On a standalone basis, the company reported a nine per cent dip in net profit to Rs 397.04 crore (Rs 436.48 crore).

The company had followed Schedule VI of the Companies Act instead of Accounting Standard 11 in the matter related to forex fluctuations with respect to liabilities and borrowings for acquisition of fixed assets.

Had the company followed AS-11, its net profit would have been lower by Rs 595.6 crore for realised and Rs 275.7 crore for unrealised currency fluctuations during the quarter, said the company’s notes to the accounts.

This could exclude an amount of Rs 210.48 crore on FCCBs if the bonds are converted on or before their due dates.

The ARPU for RCom has shown a dip of eight per cent on a sequential basis, going down to Rs 251, analysts said.

The company has downscaled its capital expenditure up to March 2009 to Rs 25,000 crore, 20 per cent lower than the Rs 30,000 crore projected earlier, Mr Anil Ambani, Chairman, said in a conference call with analyst.

Repurchasing FCCBs

RCom said it has repurchased 250 zero coupon Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs) with the face value of $1,00,000 each aggregating $25 million (approximately Rs 121.22 crore) at a discount of 52.5 per cent on December 29, 2008.

RCom also repurchased 100 zero coupon FCCBs with the face value of $1,00,000 each aggregating $10 million (approximately Rs 48.77 crore) at a discount on January 21, 2009, the statement said.

The RCom scrip was down by 4.5 per cent to close at Rs 160.15 on the BSE on Friday.