ITC Ltd reported a 3.1% year-on-year (YoY) increase in a net profit for the second quarter of the FY25 at Rs 5,078.3 crore compared to Rs 4,927 crore, in the same quarter last year.
Its total revenue for the July-September quarter was at Rs 19,327.8 crore, up 16.8 percent YoY from Rs 16,550 crore in the year-ago quarter driven by agri business and hotels, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The conglomerate’s EBITDA or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation for the quarter stood at Rs 6,335.2 crore, up 4.9 percent.
The total income of ITC, which includes other income, rose 14.86 percent to Rs 22,897.85 crore. It was Rs 19,934.9 crore a year ago.
ITC’s cigarettes business recorded 7.3 percent YoY gain in net segment revenue, while segment PBIT up by 5.1 percent YoY. The hotels segment delivered strong performance on a high base (LY includes G20 related business) with segment revenue up 12.1 percent YoY (2-yr CAGR +16.5 percent), while segment PBIT up 20.2 percent YoY, it said in a disclosure to exchanges.
The conglomerate’s agri business segment revenue was up 47 percent YoY led by leaf tobacco & value added agri products, while segment PBIT was up 27.5 percent YoY, it added.
ITC said that the performance was “resilient” amid a challenging operating environment. Subdued demand conditions, unusually heavy rains in parts of the country, high food inflation, and a sharp escalation in certain input costs were witnessed during the quarter.
The company also said that competitive intensity continued to remain high (including from local players) in certain categories such as noodles, snacks, biscuits, and popular soaps.
The company in a disclosure to the exchanges said that its board of directors approved acquisition of 1,52,32,129 equity shares of Rs 2 each of EIH Limited (EIH) and 34,60,829 equity shares of Rs 21 each of HLV Limited from Russell Credit Limited (RCL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, at their respective book value, in order to consolidate shareholding of EIH and HLV.
Post such acquisition, the total shareholding of ITC in EIH and HL V would be 16.13 percent (10,08,53,602 equity shares) and 8.11 percent (5,34,13,884 equity shares) of their paid-up share capital, respectively.
The board also approved acquisition from RCL of the entire share capital (comprising 4,20,60,166 equity shares of Rs 10 each) of Greenacre Holdings Limited, an unlisted company and a wholly owned subsidiary of RCL, at book value, it added.