ITC Q4 net profit rises 18.72% to Rs 3,481.9 crore

Diversified group ITC Ltd Monday reported a 18.72 per cent increase in standalone net profit to Rs 3,481.9 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2019.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2,932.71 crore in January-March period a year ago.

ITC Monday also announced elevation of its MD Sanjiv Puri as the Chairman and Managing Director of the company.

Puri's elevation comes after noted industry leader and erstwhile ITC Chairman Y C Deveshwar passed away Saturday morning after a brief illness. Deveshwar (72) had stepped down from executive role in 2017 but remained as a chairman in non-executive capacity.

ITC's total income during the quarter under review rose 14.26 per cent stood to Rs 12,946.21 crore, compared to Rs 11,329.74 crore in the same period last fiscal, ITC said in a BSE filing.

Revenue from total FMCG business, including cigarettes, stood at Rs 8,759.84 crore in January-March 2019, as against Rs 7,988.29 crore in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal.

During the quarter, revenue from cigarettes was Rs 5,485.92 crore. It was Rs 4,936.45 crore in the fourth quarter of 2017-18.

Revenue from FMCG-Others segment was Rs 3,273.92 crore in January-March quarter, as against Rs 3,051.82 crore in the year-ago period.

During the quarter, ITC's revenue from non-FMCG business, which includes hotels, agri business, paperboards, paper and packaging, was Rs 4,148.05 crore compared to Rs 3,517.1 crore in the same period preceding fiscal.

The Board of the company also recommended a dividend of Rs 5.75 per share for the fiscal ended March 31, 2019.

Shares of ITC closed 3.09 per cent down at Rs 288.50 on the BSE.