ITC Q4 net up 9.8% to Rs2,933 cr

The company, which on Wednesday re-designated its CEO and wholetime director Sanjiv Puri as Managing Director, had posted a net profit of Rs 2,669.47 crore in January-March period a year ago, ITC said in a BSE filing.

ITC's net sales during the quarter under review stood at Rs 10,705.75 crore against Rs 14,882.75 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal, it added.

The company posted "muted growth of 3.6 per cent in gross sales value (GSV) due to decline in agri business revenue; GSV excluding Agri Business up 5.7 per cent driven mainly by FMCG-Others and Hotels," said ITC in a statement.

According to the Kolkata-headquartered company, after implementation of GST in July last year, revenue for the March quarter is reported as net of GST, whereas in the year ago period excise duty and VAT was included in the revenue.

"In view of the aforesaid restructuring of indirect taxes, Total Income from Operations for the quarter and twelve months ended 31 st March, 2018 are not comparable with the previous periods," said ITC.

Total expenses of ITC were at Rs 6,996.46 crore against Rs 11,363.78 crore in the fourth quarter of FY2016-17.

Revenue from total FMCG business, including cigarettes, was Rs 7,988.27 crore in January-March 2018 against Rs 11,840.70 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.

During the quarter, revenue from cigarettes was at Rs 4,936.45 crore. It was Rs 8,954.94 crore in the fourth quarter of FY2017-18.

"FMCG-Cigarettes performance reflects the severe pressure on legal cigarette industry volumes due to steep escalation of tax incidence under the GST regime even as illegal trade grows unabated," the company said.

Revenue from FMCG-Others segment was at Rs 3,051.82 crore during January-March quarter. It was Rs 2,885.76 crore in the year-ago period.

"FMCG-Others comparable revenue growth stood at 10 per cent during the quarter on a relatively firm base driven by Bingo! snacks, Sunfeast biscuits, B Natural juices, Engage deos, Fiama & Vivel personal wash, Savlon handwash and Classmate notebooks," said ITC. ITC's hotel business was at Rs 408 crore during the quarter. It was Rs 386.52 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

"While there was an improvement in room rates, performance of the Hotels Business remained subdued during the year due to the overhang of excess room inventory in key cities," said ITC.

Agri business revenue stood at Rs 1,808.31 crore. It was at Rs 1,918.49 crore in the same period last fiscal.

"Shortage of leaf tobacco in Andhra Pradesh due to lower crop output on account of drought in 2016 and adverse crop quality, relative strength of the Rupee vis- -vis currencies of competing origins and limited trading opportunities in other agri-commodities weighed on the performance of the Agri Business," said ITC.

While, paperboards paper & packaging was at Rs 1,300.81 crore in the last quarter of FY 2017-18. It was at Rs 1,372.73 crore in the corresponding period.

"The Paperboards, Paper and Packaging Business was also impacted by unabsorbed capacity in the value added paperboards segment, cheap imports and slowdown in end user industries such FMCG, liquor and pharmaceuticals," it added.

For the financial year 2017-18, ITC's consolidated net profit was up 9.68 per cent at Rs 11,485.10 crore as against Rs 10,471.26 crore in 2016-17.

Its consolidated net sales were at Rs 47,362.51 crore in 2017-18 as against Rs 58,287.95 crore in the previous fiscal.

The board has also recommended a dividend of Rs. 5.15 per Ordinary Share of Re.1/- each for FY 2017-18. Shares of ITC closed at Rs 285.95 on BSE, up 1.47 per cent from previous close.