ITC Q4 Results: Net Profit Sans Exceptional Gains Up Marginally, Revenue Rises 10%
ITC logged an exceptional gain of Rs 15,179 crore during Q4FY25.
ITC Ltd.'s profit, excluding the one-time exceptional gains, rose only marginally in the fourth quarter of financial year 2024-25, impacted by subdued demand environment and sharp escalation in input costs.
The standalone profit from continued operations of India’s largest cigarette-maker came in at Rs 4,874 crore in the quarter-ended March, up 0.8% as against Rs 4,837 crore a year ago, according to an exchange filing on Thursday. That compares with the Rs 4,942.6-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
During the quarter under review, ITC logged an exceptional gain of Rs 15,179 crore from the sale of its hotels business. This takes its overall net profit to Rs 19,561 crore, marking a 290% surge year-on-year.
The company's standalone revenue rose nearly 10% to Rs 17,248 crore, as compared to Rs 15,734 crore in the year-ago period.
ITC Q4 FY25 Highlights (Standalone, YoY)
Revenue up 9.6% to Rs 17,248 crore. (Estimate: Rs 16,979.7 crore).
Ebitda up 2.5% to Rs 5,987 crore. (Estimate: Rs 6,017.7 crore).
Margin at 34.7% versus 37% (Estimate: 35.4%).
Higher prices of edible oil, wheat, maida, potato, cocoa, leaf tobacco and pulpwood, especially in the second half of the year impacted margins.
Segment-wise Revenue (YoY)
Cigarette up 6% to Rs 8,399.61 crore.
'FMCG others' up 4% to Rs 5,494.63 crore.
Agri business up 17.7% to Rs 3,649.16 crore.
Paperboards, paper and packaging up 5.5% to Rs 2,187.62 crore.
Cigarettes
Strategic portfolio and micro market interventions, with focus on competitive belts and to counter illicit trade, drove volume-led growth.
Differentiated and premium offerings continued to perform well, leveraging mainstream trademarks and innovation.
Severe cost escalation in leaf tobacco partially mitigated through improved mix and calibrated pricing action.
FMCG -Others
Categories such as atta, spices, snacks, frozen snacks, dairy, premium personal wash, homecare and agarbatti drove growth.
Notebooks impacted by heightened competitive intensity with opportunistic play by local and regional brands, led by sharp drop in paper prices.
Severe inflationary pressures were witnessed in edible oil, wheat, maida, potato, cocoa and packaging inputs.
Cost pressures were partially mitigated through focused cost management initiatives, portfolio premiumisation and calibrated pricing actions, according to the company.
ITC sustained competitive levels of trade and marketing investments during the year.
Value-added variants and staples adjacencies scaled up 1.8 times over two years and now comprise 14% of Aashirvaad's staples portfolio.
Agri Business
Post trials, shipments from the state-of-the-art facility to manufacture and export nicotine and nicotine derivative products have commenced in Q4 FY25. Progressive scale up is expected in FY26.
The company continues to engage with farmers to build resilience in agri practices against extreme weather events.
Sustained customer relationships continue to drive growth in leaf tobacco and value-added agri exports such as coffee and spices.
Paperboards, Paper And Packaging
The segment remains impacted due to low-priced Chinese and Indonesian supplies in global markets, including India.
Soft domestic demand conditions also hurt.
Subdued realisation and unprecedented surge in domestic wood prices continue to weigh on margins.
Specialty papers segment witnessed robust growth driven by capacity augmentation in décor paper.
ITC Ltd. hopes to benefit from a favourable macro environment in the current fiscal. Consumption expenditure is expected to pick up progressively led by continued recovery in rural demand backed by a good monsoon, along with improvement in urban demand amidst lower inflation levels and tax cuts announced in the Union Budget, which is expected to boost disposable incomes, according to the company. The cumulative impact of pick-up in government capex in the second half of FY25 and front loading of capex outlay in FY26, along with interest rate cuts and liquidity support from RBI, would also be supportive of growth.
The board has also recommended final dividend of Rs 7.85 per share.
Shares of ITC closed 1.58% lower at Rs 426.1 apiece on the BSE before the results were announced, as against a 0.79% decline in the benchmark Sensex.
