ITC Q4 Results: Profit rises 11.8% YoY to Rs 4,191 crore; revenue grows 16%

The results, announced after market hours, exceeded street expectations for both revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). In fact, the

scrip gained 0.72% to close at Rs 266.5 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday, when the Sensex closed at a decline of 0.2%.

For the last financial year (2021-22), ITC’s gross revenue increased by 22.7% to Rs 59,101.09 crore as compared to the year before, EBITDA increased by 22% to Rs 18,933.66 crore and net profit went up by 15.5% at Rs 15,057.83 crore. The results surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

The conglomerate also appointed its chief financial officer Supratim Dutta as a wholetime director for a period of three years with effect from July 22. Industry executives said executive director Rajiv Tandon, who was the erstwhile CFO and currently responsible for finance and accounting, will superannuate on July 21 and will be succeeded by Mr Dutta.

ITC in its earnings release said the operating environment during the year remained extremely challenging and was marked by heightened uncertainty and volatility due to the pandemic, unprecedented inflation, and the geopolitical tensions towards the end of the year exacerbated the situation.

“Despite significant disruptions during the year, the company’s consumer-centricity, agility in seizing market opportunities, focus on execution excellence harnessing learnings from previous waves and proactive strategic interventions enabled it to post robust growth in revenues and profits, surpassing pre-pandemic levels,” it said.

The board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 6.25 per share of Rs 1 each for the last fiscal. This is in addition to the interim dividend of Rs 5.25 per share.

ITC’s flagship cigarette business progressively recovered last fiscal due to improved mobility and easing of restrictions, surpassing pre-pandemic levels in the latter half of the year. As per

, the cigarette business sales volume growth was 9% last quarter. The cigarette business segment revenue went up by 15.3% for FY22 at Rs 23,451.39 crore as compared to FY21, while the segment profit improved by 16.9% to Rs 14,869 crore.

The non-cigarette FMCG business segment revenue grew by 8.6% at Rs 15,994.49 crore in the last fiscal on a relatively high base and was up 25% over FY20. ITC said after a relatively subdued first half, revenue in the second half of the year witnessed double-digit growth. The segment EBITDA for the year grew by 10% to Rs 1448.97 crore with margins being sustained at 9.1% in spite of unprecedented inflationary headwinds, ITC said.

“Staples and convenience foods remained resilient even as the pace of revenue growth witnessed moderation on a relatively high base. Discretionary and out-of-home categories recorded strong growth surpassing pre-pandemic levels driven by progressive improvement in mobility and favourable comparables,” ITC said.

ITC’s hotel business – the country’s second-largest chain – “witnessed smart recovery driven by the domestic leisure and wedding segments; business travel also saw progressive improvement, albeit remaining below pre-pandemic levels,” it said.

The company said the pick-up in revenues together with a relentless focus on cost management resulted in a positive swing of Rs 346.63 crore in segment EBITDA of the hotel business, despite considerable disruptions caused by the pandemic during the year.

The company’s agri business segment delivered a stellar performance with segment revenue and results growing by 28.7% and 25.6% respectively. This was driven by strong growth in wheat, rice, spices and leaf tobacco exports on the back of strong customer relationships, a robust sourcing network and agile execution, it said.

The paperboards, paper and packaging segment recorded strong growth of 36% in segment revenue and 54.7% in segment results. This was aided by demand revival across most end-user segments, higher realisations, product mix enrichment and exports.

Analysts said the financial results of ITC are the visible effort of the strategy reset made by the chairman Sanjiv Puri during the last few years since he took charge.

“The fourth quarter of ITC was a strong show. It is ahead of our and street expectations on sales and EBITDA. The company’s margins expanded in most of the businesses,” said Abneesh Roy of Edelweiss Securities.