The company’s consolidated net profit (attributable to the owners of the company) for the quarter ended December 31, 2024, stood at Rs 4,935 crore, against Rs 5,335 crore, reported in the year- ago period.
Revenues, meanwhile, increased 8% YoY to Rs 20,350 crore.
The board has also recommended an interim dividend of Rs 6.5 per share for the financial year ended March 2025.
The diversified conglomerate’s EBITDA for the third quarter rose 3% YoY and ex-paper, the same increased 5% YoY.
Segment-wise, the cigarette business clocked a revenue growth of 8%, with the PBT rising 4% YoY. Meanwhile, the hotel business delivered a stellar performance during the quarter with revenue at Rs 922 crore, growing by 15% YoY on a high base.The FMCG businesses delivered decent performance amidst muted demand conditions with segment revenue rising 4% YoY to Rs 5418 crore.For the paperboard business, the operating environment remained challenging with low-priced Chinese and Indonesian supplies in global markets, including India. Further, The agri-business segment’s revenue increased 10% YoY led by leaf tobacco and value-added agri exports. PBIT was up 22% YoY in the reporting period.
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After the company’s third-quarter results, domestic brokerage firm Nuvama retained a ‘buy’ rating on ITC, setting a target price of Rs 571.
“The cigarette segment has shown strong performance; however, overall margins have been disappointing,” said Nuvama in its report.
Key raw material (RM) inflation has led to EBITDA margins compressing by 239 basis points year-over-year (YoY) to 34.2%.
Additionally, the domestic brokerage firm noted, that ITC has announced the acquisition of “Prasuma,” a major player in the frozen, chilled, and ready-to-cook (RTC) food segment. The acquisition was completed at an enterprise value-to-sales ratio of approximately 2.3x for FY24. This is considered reasonable, given Prasuma’s brand visibility and ITC’s strategy to strengthen its presence in the high-growth frozen food market.
Despite these developments, Nauvama advised caution in the near term due to an ongoing urban slowdown, inflation in key raw materials, and weak profitability in the FMCG and paper segments.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
