ITC Q3 Results: Revenue Up 30% But Higher Expenses Hurt Margin

ITC Ltd.'s third-quarter profit rose, surpassing analyst estimates, even as its margin contracted on higher expenses.

Net profit of the staples-to-cigarettes company rose 15% over the preceding quarter to Rs 4,056.7 crore in the three months ended December, according to its filing with stock exchanges. The consensus of analysts' estimates tracked by Bloomberg was Rs 3,951.7 crore.

Highlights (YoY)

• Revenue rose 30% to Rs 18,365.8 crore. Analysts had projected it at Rs 14,169.9 crore

• Operating profit rose 17% to Rs 5,597.7 crore as against a forecast of Rs 5,349.8 crore

• Operating margin stood at 30.5% versus 33.9%.

• Cigarette segment's revenue rose 14.2% to Rs 6,958.8 crore.

• Revenue of the remaining FMCG business rose 9.2% to Rs 4,099.5 crore.

• Hotels unit revenue doubled to Rs 495.5 crore.

• Agri-business revenue stood at Rs 5,157.4 crore, up from Rs 2,694.3 crore.

• Revenue of the paperboards, paper & packaging segment jumped 38.5% to Rs 2,046.5 crore.

The board of directors of the company declared an interim dividend of Rs 5.25 per share for the current financial year.

Shares of ITC closed 1.1% higher on Friday ahead of the earnings announcement, compared with a 1.2% decline in the Nifty 50 Index.

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