ITC Ltd on Monday surprised the market with a 33 per cent jump in profit and a 39 per cent spike in revenue from operations in the first quarter of the fiscal, way ahead of the consensus estimates of analysts tracking the company.
Nearly all key business segments of the Calcutta-headquartered conglomerate, from tobacco to hotel to paper and paperboards, posted revenue and profit growth both on a year-on-year and a quarter-on-quarter basis, powering the company to Rs 4,462.25 crore in profit compared with Rs 3,343.44 crore in Q1FY22.
Revenue from the operations in Q1FY23 stood at Rs 19,831.27 crore compared with Rs 14,240.76 crore in Q1FY22, with paperboard, paper and packaging, agri business and hotels posting the highest ever quarterly revenue. While all segments did well, the volume recovery in cigarettes will be keenly watched by the market. The company said stability in taxes on cigarettes, coupled with the government’s effort to hunt down illicit trade, enabled green shoots of recovery and volume surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Cigarette revenue stood at Rs 7,464.1 crore in Q1FY23 compared with Rs 5,802.67 crore, up 28.6 per cent.
Segment EBIT went up 29.1 per cent to Rs 4,469.76 crore from Rs 3,461.91 crore. The FMCG segment posted a rise in profit on a Y-o-Y basis but sharp inflation dented the profit on a sequential basis. On a Y-o-Y basis, the first quarter segment EBIT stood at Rs 206.87 crore, up by 18.6 per cent.
Segment revenue of FMCG, which includes foods, health and personal care and stationery items, went up 19.1 per cent to Rs 4,458.71 crore in Q1FY23, the highest ever in a quarter, compared with Rs 3,731.4 crore in Q1FY22. After being ravaged by the pandemic for nearly two years, the hotels had a breakthrough quarter. At Rs 116.31 crore, the segment EBIT was a 14-year high, bouncing back from a loss of Rs 159.61 crore in Q1FY22.
Revenue went up to Rs 580.71 crore, compared with Rs 133.67 crore. The paperboards and paper segment recorded the highest ever profit (Rs 612.98 crore) and revenue (Rs 2,267.22 crore) in a quarter in Q1FY23 while agribusiness also recorded highest quarterly revenue (Rs 7,492.14 crore) and segment EBIT of Rs 283.17 crore in Q1FY23. The ITC stock closed at Rs 307.80 on the NSE, up Rs 4.75, or 1.75 per cent, after touching a 52-week high of Rs 308.8. Abneesh Roy of Edelweiss Securities said the company’s performance was ahead of the brokerage’s and consensus estimates.