Diversified conglomerate ITC registered 12 per cent growth in standalone net profit at ₹4,191 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, as compared with ₹3,748 crore in the same period last year.
Standalone revenue from operations grew by 16 per cent at ₹16,426 crore during the quarter under review as against ₹14,157 crore same period last year.
The company’s board had recommended final dividend of ₹6.25 per ordinary share of ₹1 each for the financial year ended March 31, 2022, subject to declaration of the same by the members at the 111th Annual General Meeting. Including interim dividend of ₹5.25 per share, the total dividend for FY22 is ₹11.50 per share (FY21 – ₹10.75 per share).
For the year ended March 31, 2022, the company registered 16 per cent growth in standalone net profit at ₹15,058 crore, as against ₹13,032 crore last year.
Standalone revenue from operations for the whole year ended March 31, 2022 increased by 23 per cent at ₹59,745 crore (₹48,524 crore).
According to Abneesh Roy, Executive Vice President, Edelweiss Research, ITC has presented a “strong show” ahead of its and street expectations on sales and EBITDA. Margins have expanded in most of the businesses.
The company has witnessed resilient performance in FMCG others segment with Q4 revenue up by a little over 12 per cent y-o-y at ₹4,142 crore (₹3,688 crore).
The Q4 FMCG EBITDA was up 22 per cent y-o-y and 46 per cent over Q4 FY20; EBITDA margins sustained at 9 per cent despite unprecedented inflationary headwinds. The FMCG businesses, despite unprecedented increase in prices of key inputs, performed well through focused cost management interventions across the value chain, premiumisation, product mix enrichment, judicious pricing actions and so on, the company said.
Revenue from cigarettes business was up by nearly 10 per cent at ₹6,443 crore (₹5,859 crore) during the period under review. The company witnessed robust broad-based recovery in cigarettes despite disruptions due to the third wave with volumes surpassing pre-pandemic levels, it said.
The company’s market standing was reinforced through focused portfolio and market interventions and agile execution. Cigarettes EBIT was up by 12.2 per cent.
The revenue from agri business division grew by 28 per cent at ₹244 crore. The growth in revenues was driven by wheat, rice, leaf tobacco exports leveraging strong customer relationships, investments in sustainable value chains, robust sourcing network and agile execution, it said.
The paperboards and packaging segment grew by 39 per cent at ₹450 crore (from ₹323 crore).
ITC’s scrip closed at ₹266.50, up by 0.72 per cent on the BSE on Wednesday.