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Diversified conglomerate ITC Ltd saw an over 10.4 per cent jump in net profit to ₹2,500 crore in the July-September quarter. In the corresponding quarter last year, net profit stood at ₹2,263 crore.
The profit came primarily on the back of increased revenues from all its verticals, including the cigarette business and paring down losses in the non-cigarette FMCG category.
During the period under review, total income from operations grew by 8 per cent to ₹13,617 crore against ₹ 12,611 crore in the year-ago-period.
Cigarette business Cigarettes continue to drive revenue and profit (before tax) for the Kolkata-headquartered company.
Nearly 63 per cent of total revenue from operations and 84 per cent of profit came from the segment.
Cigarette revenues grew 7 per cent in Q2 FY-17 at ₹8,528 crore against ₹7,963 crore year-on-year; with profit before tax growing by 8.3 per cent to ₹ 3,217 crore (₹2,969 crore).
“The performance of the cigarette business during the quarter remained subdued on account of continued pressure on the legal cigarette industry in India,” ITC said in a statement.
FMCG-Others segment The non-cigarette FMCG business saw an over 13 per cent Y-o-Y growth in revenues to ₹2,672 crore.
The company was able to pare down losses to ₹3.26 crore in Q2 of FY-17 from ₹11.10 crore in Q2 of FY-16.
According to a statement by ITC, the FMCG-Others segment saw its revenue move up “amidst a persistently sluggish demand environment”.
The company further claimed that its brand of luxury chocolates under ‘Fabelle’ was “well received” and the ‘Fabelle Chocolate Boutique’ extended to ITC Maurya (New Delhi), ITC Sonar (Kolkata) and ITC Grand Chola (Chennai) during the quarter in addition to ITC Gardenia (Bengaluru).
Hotels, agri-biz Revenues for both the hotels and the agri-business saw a minor 2 per cent jump on a y-o-y basis to ₹297 crore and ₹1,880 crore, respectively.
In terms of performance, the hotel segment was back in black with a profit (before tax) of ₹65 lakh. In the comparative quarter last year, it reported around ₹6 crore loss.
However, revenues across the paper, paperboards and packaging segment remained flat at ₹1,331 crore.
“Paperboards, paper and packaging segment revenue impacted by subdued demand in FMCG & legal cigarette industry, zero duty imports under Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN countries and cheap imports from China,” the company said in a statement.
On Wednesday, the ITC stock closed at ₹238.90, up 0.06 per cent, on the BSE.
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