ITC beats Street estimates with 17.5% rise in June quarter profit
NEW DELHI : ITC Ltd on Monday outperformed Street expectations with a 17.5% rise in standalone net profit for June quarter, helped by lower exp-enses. However, an ongoing ban on wheat export and a more recent ban on rice export hurt standalone revenue for the quarter that fell 7.2% to ₹16,995.49 crore from ₹18,320.16 crore a year ago. The company, known for its Gold Flake cigarettes and Bingo chips, posted net profit of ₹4,902.74 crore for the quarter ended 30 June, up from ₹4,169.38 crore a year ago.
The figures topped ₹4,817 crore estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 14 analysts. Quarterly expenses fell 14.7% from year ago to ₹11,158.64 crore. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization grew 11% to ₹6,250 crore and margins expanded 6.82 percentage points.
The global economy is facing a marked slowdown with high inflation and interest rates impacting economic activity, especially in advanced economies, ITC said. “Against this backdrop, the Indian economy remains resilient, with buoyant tax collections, moderating inflation, credit growth uptick being some of the key positives amongst high frequency indicators," it said in a statement. “Consumer demand is witnessing incipient signs of recovery.
However, risks from the external consumer price inflation (especially food); commodity price volatility; El Nino impact on monsoons and agri output—would be the key monitorables in the near term," it said. The company’s cigarette business reported revenue growth of 13% to ₹7465.27 crore up from ₹6608.98 crore reported a year ago. Cigarette volumes grew between 9-10%, said Amnish Aggarwal, Head Of Research, Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd.
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