Daily Brief Credit: Bharti Airtel – ESG Report – Lucror Analytics and more

Bharti Airtel is the second-largest telecom player in India, with a c. 30% market share. It also has significant operations in Africa, and to a smaller extent Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The largest shareholders are Bharti Enterprises (42%) and Singtel (14%). Bharti Enterprises was founded/owned by Sunil Bharti Mittal. It is one of India’s first conglomerates, with interests in telecommunications, space, insurance, real estate, hospitality and food.

We view Bharti Airtel as “Low Risk” on the LARA scale, mainly given its strong market position as the second-largest player in India’s telecom industry. The company owns robust network infrastructure across the country, with a broad customer base. We also note positively the improving industry outlook, with rationalising competition and industry consolidation benefiting Bharti Airtel, along with improving regulatory conditions. The company is committed to prudent balance-sheet management and stable leverage. However, capex requirements will likely remain substantial given Bharti Airtel’s 5G rollout, with a risk that capex will be higher than projected.

• In today’s Morning Views publication we comment on developments of the following high yield issuers: Longfor Group, Melco Resorts, Sands China, Tata Motors

• In the US, February nonfarm payrolls increased to 151 k (160 k e / 125 k revised p), albeit the figure came in slightly below estimates. Moreover, the January number was revised downwards to 125 k (143 k p), with the two-month revision at negative 2 k (+100 k p). The unemployment rate edged up to 4.1% (4.0% e / 4.0% p). The average hourly earnings rose 0.3% m-o-m (0.3% e / 0.4% revised p) and 4.0% y-o-y (4.1% e / 3.9% revised p).

• Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has reiterated that the US central bank is in no rush to reduce rates. He said: “Despite elevated levels of uncertainty, the US economy continues to be in a good place”, adding that “sentiment readings have not been a good predictor of consumption growth in recent years”.