ITC likely to post profit up by 6.3% in Q4 results

NEW DELHI: The Kolkata-based company ITC Ltd is hopefully looking to register year-on-year (YoY) increase of 6.36 percent in its annual net profit to Rs 2,839 crore, as reported by a poll of analysts at Reuters.

The expansion in bottomline could be a result of growth in ITC’s non-cigarette businesses on the back of preferred base and better realisations from cigarettes.

ITC is set to roll-out its quarter earnings for March on May 16.

The Cigarette-to-soap maker’s net sales for March quarter is noted at Rs 12,126 crore, which is 9 percent higher on year, as per the Reuters estimates.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciationand amortisation (EBITDA) is likely to surge 9 percent YoY to Rs 4,236 crore.

Several brokerage reports indicate that the company’s cigarette business is expected to register a YoY decrease in sales volume. Cigarettes are the major business of the company that contribute 86 percent of total PBIT.

According to analysts, nearly all these businesses are likely to post healthy YoY growth. Most brokerages hope the company's cigarette volumes to go down 2 percent on year in the March quarter.

The prominent trends to look forward in the results will be cigarette volumes and operating margins for the FMCG segment, along with profitability for each sector.

ITC Limited