ITC Q4FY18 net income rises by 10% yoy to Rs 2,669 crore; shares gain

FMCG-major ITC during it's fourth quarter ended March 2018 financial performance, recorded a mixed bag by missing top-line growth estimates but was in line with analysts estimates in terms of bottom-line. ITC registered standalone net income of Rs 2,932.71 crore which surged by 9.86% compared to Rs 2,669.47 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Q4FY18 net income however tumbled by 5.10 from Rs 3,090.20 crore of preceding quarter. 

A Bloomberg poll of analysts expected ITC’s net income and revenue of Rs 2,920 crore and Rs 11,940 crore in Q4FY18 respectively.

Standalone revenue from operations came in at Rs 10,813.24 crore witnessing decline by 27.95% as against Rs 15,008.82 crore a year ago same period. However, revenue surged by 9.86% versus Rs 9,952.19 crore of preceding quarter. 

On segment wise revenue break-up, cigarettes business plunged by 44.87% yoy to Rs 4,936.45 crore in Q4FY18 versus Rs 8,954.94 crore in Q4FY17. Also, agri business slumped by 5.74% yoy to Rs 1,808.31 crore and paperboards & packaging business dropped by 5.24% to Rs 1,300.81 crore. However, hotel business saw uptick of 5.56% to Rs 408 crore this quarter. 

For FY18 period, ITC’s posted net income of Rs 11,223.25 crore registering growth of 10.02% from Rs 10,200.90 crore in FY17, whereas revenue stood at Rs 44,329.71 crore which saw decrease of 20.05% from Rs 55,448.46 crore in FY17. 

In it’s meeting held on Wednesday, the board of directors recommended dividend of Rs 5.15 per Ordinary Share of Rs 1/- each for the financial year ended 31st March, 2018, subject to declaration of the same by the Members at the 107th Annual General Meeting of the Company convened for Friday, 27th July, 2018; the dividend, if declared, will be paid on Tuesday, 31st July, 2018 to those Members entitled thereto. 

Share price of ITC was trading at Rs 288.35 per piece above Rs 6.55 or 2.32%.