ITC Ltd, India’s biggest cigarette maker, on Wednesday said its second-quarter profit rose 10.5% from a year earlier largely on account of an increase in operating profit from its cigarette business.
Net profit rose to Rs2,500 crore in the three months ended 30 September from Rs2,262.5 crore a year ago, the company said on Thursday.
Revenue growth was muted at 7.8% as the company battled “persistently sluggish demand environment”, ITC said in a statement.
The company clocked Rs13,491 crore in revenue from operations as against Rs12,511 crore in the same period last year.
Revenue from non-cigarette consumer goods segment grew 13.3% over last year to Rs2,671.6 crore. Operating loss from the segment narrowed to Rs3.26 crore from Rs11.1 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.
Operating profit from the cigarette business grew 8.35% year-on-year to Rs3,216.88 crore, while revenue jumped 7.09% to Rs8,528.47 crore. The company said its cigarette sales continued to face pressure from contrabands.
The company’s hotels business made a small profit of Rs65 lakh as against a loss of Rs5.5 crore a year ago, while the agricultural commodity business turned in an operating profit of Rs296.96 crore, almost the same as last year.
Despite facing weak demand, the paper and paperboards business registered a 10.8% growth in operating profit—the segment’s profit went up to Rs231.95 crore from Rs209.25 crore a year ago.
ITC’s shares closed at Rs238.90 up 0.06% on the BSE, while the benchmark Sensex fell 0.91%. to close at 27,836.51
Source: livemint.com