ITC share price hits three-year high; gains over 40% year-to-date

The stock value of diversified conglomerate ITC Limited saw a fresh three-year high of Rs 316.65 on the stock exchange in Tuesday`s intra-day trade. The share value was up by 3 percent.

The development came soon after the company declared its results for the first quarter of FY23, recording an all-round robust growth across businesses in terms of both revenue and profitability.

On Monday, Sanjiv Puri-led ITC reported a 38 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth in its consolidated net profit which stood at Rs 4,169 crore, as compared to Rs 3,013 crore last crore. The company`s net sales too saw a 41 percent spike and stood at Rs 18,164 crore, while EBITDA was up 41.5 percent on a Y-o-Y basis. According to ITC, a strong performance by all business segments is responsible for the Q1 growth.

Some of the highlights of the company`s performance in FY23 include a record quarterly growth in the revenue and profits for Paperboards, Paper, and Packaging segments; highest quarterly revenue, highest profits in over 14 years, and highest ever Q1 profits in the Hotels segment; and highest quarterly revenue for the Agri and FMCG segments. According to ITC, the out-of-home, and education and stationery segments too performed strongly.

People aware about developments within the conglomerate said that through the strategic initiatives led by Sanjiv Puri, ITC`s attempts to mitigate high input costs through strategic cost management, premiumization, supply chain agility, judicious pricing actions, fiscal incentives, leveraging digital, optimizing channel assortments, and favorable business mix can be credited for this robust growth. The company`s deep and wide multi-channel distribution network with a growing presence in emerging channels and tailored channel-specific assortments continue to deliver competitive advantage through superior product availability, visibility, and freshness.

"While inflation continues to be a big concern for the industry, moderation in prices of key commodities in recent times, along with strategic interventions by the central government and the Reserve Bank of India, could result in economic recovery. This could lead to companies like ITC faring well in the coming quarters of FY23 and beyond. In my opinion, ITC will record double-digit growth across business segments going forward," said Rahul Sharma, Market Strategist and Head of Research, Equity 99.

In a recent interaction with the media a day after the company`s AGM, ITC Chairman Sanjiv Puri had highlighted how an asset-right strategy for Hotels, focus on consumer needs and newer segments for FMCG, and the launch of ITC MAARS for Agri business will create new vectors of growth for the group and enable it to perform better than the industry average.

ITC`s stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 308.80 on Monday ahead of the company announcing its quarterly results. The stock is already up 40 per cent year-to-date. "The industry had expected a strong fiscal quarter show from the company but the Q1 FY23 numbers reflect a performance above expectations. This development is likely to give a fresh upward push to ITC stock in the near future, as is being predicted by most experts," added Rahul Sharma of Equity99. (