 "cigarettes business’s good show was cheered by the Street as the ITC scrip gained three per cent after hitting a new 52-week-high of Rs313.4.")
Expansion in the operating profit margin of the cigarettes business was a key positive in ITC’s results for the March quarter (Q4), and so were flat volumes given that analysts were
expecting a decline in the latter. While price hikes in the Classic, Gold Flake and Navy Cut brands helped cigarette revenues rise five per cent, margins in the business expanded 107
basis points year-on-year (y-o-y) to 36.4 per cent; sequentially, these were lower by 20 basis points.
The performance of the hotels and paper businesses were also worth a mention. It was the agri and non-cigarette FMCG (FMCG) businesses
