Diversified group ITC will sell its entire stake in US-based wholly owned subsidiary 'King Maker Marketing' for US $24 million (about Rs 160 crore).

King Maker Marketing, registered in the state of New Jersey, USA, is engaged in the distribution of ITC manufactured cigarette products in the US market.

In the past five years, ITC's assets have grown 72 per cent to Rs 24,000 crore in tandem with its growth plans.

ITC's gross block of assets as of March 2016 stood at Rs 24,338 crore compared to Rs 14,099 crore as of March 2011; net fixed assets have grown from Rs 9,678 crore to Rs 16,700 crore.

ITC Ltd is hoping to cross Rs 10,000 crore mark in the food business in the next 18-24 months.

Its food business has crossed $1billion mark in 2014-15 (at the then exchange rate) by posting a revenue of Rs 6,411 crore and it was further increased to around Rs 7,200 crore.

ITC shares surged on Tuesday after Delhi High Court ruled in favour of the company in the biscuit packaging dispute with Britannia. The court has asked Britannia to withdraw NutriChoice zero biscuit stocks within 4 weeks. Reacting to the news, ITC shares were trading 1.07 per cent up at Rs 265.25 at 11.06 am. The scrip opened at Rs 262.80 and touched a high and low of Rs 266 and Rs 262.40, respectively. Sensex was trading 297.12 points up at 28,829.23 during the same time.

New Delhi: ITC Ltd’s consumer goods business presents the “maximum potential for value creation in the future”, the cigarette-maker’s newly appointed chief operating officer (COO) Sanjiv Puri said on Thursday in one of his first interviews.

The segment, which does not include cigarettes, allows the company to “leverage its enterprise strengths to the fullest”, said Puri, explaining why ITC expects to ramp up revenue from branded packaged foods and personal care products to Rs.1 trillion by 2030.

A patent application of multi-business conglomerate ITC Ltd, which sells agarbatti brand Mangaldeep, for a smokeless incense product at a cost-effective manner was rejected by the Indian Patent Office for lack of inventive steps, among other objections.

The company said its invention was to prepare an incense stick with no smoke but fragrance, and it would be an eco-friendly product with higher productivity and cost advantage in several ways.

Cigarette-to-hotel-to-FMCG major ITC has plans to foray into overseas markets with an aspiration to become one of the leading multinational corporations (MNCs) operating globally, according to its chairman YC Deveshwar.

“We are not satisfied with where we are. Because it is the constructive force of dissatisfaction which gives you the energy to move forward. And we always have found ways of getting the constructive force of dissatisfaction so that we can make fine ways to make improvement in the future,” Y C Deveshwar told shareholders during the company’s 105th annual general meeting here on Friday.

Cigarette sales have disappointed ITC this time around with a growth in business by just about 6.4% on year at Rs 8,231 crore in the first quarter against a stupendous 10% growth in the March quarter.

The cigarette volume growth came at a low 2%, half of what market was expecting at 4%.

NEW DELHI: The government may hold on to its shares in blue chips such as ITC and L&T despite the Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) seeking bids from merchant bankers to advise the agency on its holdings that span across sectors.

While several experts have suggested that SUUTI, which is wholly owned by the government, sell some of the marquee stocks instead of divesting stake in PSUs to raise money, a source in the government said that rushing in with the sale may not be prudent.

ITC has rallied nearly 6% to Rs 260 (adjusted to bonus), also its fresh 52-week high on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in early morning trade. The stock was traded ex-bonus (1:2) on Friday.

The board of directors of the company at its meeting held on May 20, 2016, had recommended the issue of bonus shares in the proportion of 1 (one) bonus share of Rs 1 each for every existing 2 (two) fully paid-up ordinary shares of Rs 1 each.

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