ITC Ltd Q3 net profit up 17 pc at Rs 3,090 crore

Diversified group ITC Ltd today reported a 16.75 per cent increase in standalone net profit to Rs 3,090.20 crore for the December quarter, mainly on account of lower expenses and contribution from exceptional items.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2,646.73 crore during the same period previous fiscal, ITC said in a regulatory filing.
Total income during the October-December quarter stood at Rs 10,579.11 crore. It was Rs 14,257.9 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
The company said due to restructuring of indirect taxes, gross revenue from sale of products and services and excise duty for the quarter are not comparable with the previous periods.

Total expenses during the period was Rs 6,362.4 crore compared to Rs 10,303.71 crore in the year-ago period.
"The company delivered steady performance during the quarter despite a challenging operating environment marked by severe pressure on legal cigarette industry volumes and limited trading opportunities in agri business," ITC said in a statement.

Exceptional items of Rs 412.90 crore represent provisions for earlier years in respect of Tamil Nadu entry tax that have been written back based on a favourable order of the Supreme Court, it added.
Revenue from FMCG business, including cigarettes, stood at Rs 7,500.97 crore. It was Rs 10,857.23 crore in the year- ago period.

"While the FMCG industry witnessed progressive recovery during the quarter from the transitional impact of GST rollout, overall demand conditions remained subdued," the company said.
Hotels contributed Rs 404.44 crore during the quarter compared to Rs 370.51 crore during the same period previous fiscal.
Agri business revenue stood at Rs 1,530.86 crore as against Rs 1,671.92 crore in the same period a year ago.
Performance during the quarter was impacted by shortage of leaf tobacco in Andhra Pradesh due to successive reductions in authorised crop size exacerbated by drought in 2016, the company said.
Revenue from paperboards, paper and packaging business during the quarter stood at Rs 1,279.60 crore as against Rs 1,335.82 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

"Segment revenue, remained muted on account of subdued demand environment prevailing in the FMCG and legal cigarette industry, surplus capacity in the domestic industry along with zero duty imports under free trade agreement with ASEAN countries and cheap imports from China," ITC said.
Shares of ITC closed 0.24 per cent up at Rs 273.50 on BSE.