Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the ticketing arm of Indian Railways, on Wednesday reported a sharp jump of 179 per cent in its net profit at Rs 205.80 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2019, helped by broad-based growth across all sectors. The Miniratna company had posted net profit of Rs 73.59 crore in the same quarter last year. On the sequential basis, profit grew 106.17 per cent from Rs 99.82 crore in September quarter of this fiscal.
"The net profit from continuing operations stood at Rs 205.80 crore in the December quarter of the current fiscal, IRCTC said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
During the October-December quarter, IRCTC's total revenue surged 61.91 per cent to Rs 734.98 crore compared to Rs 453.91 crore in the year-ago period.
Operating profit or EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation) rose 168.74 per cent YoY to Rs 265.7 crore in Q3FY20. EBITDA margin expanded to 37.11 per cent in the quarter ended December 2019, from 22.72 per cent in Q3FY19.
Total expenses of the company increased to Rs 464.56 crore in Q3 FY20, from Rs 341.50 crore in Q3 FY19.
Profit before tax was Rs 270.41 crore in December quarter of this fiscal compared to Rs 112.41 crore in the prior year.
Segment wise, revenue from catering business stood at Rs 269.2 crore versus Rs 248.72 crore a year ago. Revenue from internet ticketing was Rs 226.90 crore in Q3 FY20 versus Rs 55.32 crore a year ago. While Rail Neer's revenue was Rs 58.60 crore, revenue from tourism and State Teertha stood at Rs 94.86 crore and Rs 66.40 crore, respectively.
IRCTC's board has also declared an interim dividend of Rs 10 per share, which is 100 per cent of paid up share capital. The board has fixed February 25, 2020 as the record date for the purpose of payment of dividend.
This was the second earnings announcement by the IRCTC after its listing on Indian bourses on October 14, 2019. For the half-year period ended September 30, 2019, IRCTC reported a 14 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in the net profit at Rs 172.16 crore. Net revenue from operations grew 3.77 per cent to Rs 972.61 crore as against Rs 937.25 crore in the first half of the last fiscal.
Ahead of Q3 earnings, shares of IRCTC closed Wednesday's trade at Rs 1,418.95 apiece, up 0.91 per cent, on the BSE.
By Chitranjan Kumar