Diversified conglomerate ITC on Wednesday reported an over 10 per cent rise in net profit at Rs2,635 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2014, as it continued to witness muted growth in cigarettes business.
The Kolkata-headquartered firm had posted a profit of Rs2,385.34 crore in the corresponding period a year earlier. Net sales increased by marginal 2.05 per cent to Rs 8,800.22 crore as against Rs8,623.11 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, ITC said in a BSE filing.
Earnings from the company's FMCG business, including cigarettes, increased by 4.23 per cent to Rs6,456.06 crore while that of non-FMCG business grew by 0.31 per cent to Rs9,582.95 crore.
During the quarter under review, revenue from cigarettes grew by 0.62 per cent to Rs4,141.94 crore, while that from FMCG business excluding cigarettes went up by 11.37 per cent to Rs2,314.12 crore.
"The combined impact of the sharp increase in excise duty and VAT is exerting unprecedented pressure on legal industry sales volumes. Besides adversely impacting the performance of the legal cigarette industry, this has led to sub-optimisation of the revenue potential from the tobacco sector," ITC said in a statement.
Revenue from hospitality business increased by 4.69 per cent to Rs330.26 crore. "The hotels industry continued to be impacted by a weak pricing scenario in the backdrop of excessive room inventory in key domestic markets," ITC said.