Diversified group ITC ltd on Wednesday reported 9.86% increase in standalone net profit at Rs 2,932.71 crore for the fourth quarter ended on March 31, 2018, driven mainly by non-cigarette FMCG and hospitality businesses.
The company, which on Wednesday re-designated its CEO and wholetime director Sanjiv Puri as Managing Director, had posted a net profit of Rs 2,669.47 crore in January-March period a year ago, ITC said in a BSE filing.
ITC's net sales during the quarter under review stood at Rs 10,705.75 crore against Rs 14,882.75 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal, it added.
The company posted “muted growth of 3.6% in gross sales value (GSV) due to decline in agri business revenue; GSV excluding Agri Business up 5.7% driven mainly by FMCG-Others and Hotels,” said ITC in a statement.
According to the Kolkata-headquartered company, after implementation of GST in July last year, revenue for the March quarter is reported as net of GST, whereas in the year ago period excise duty and VAT was included in the revenue.
“In view of the aforesaid restructuring of indirect taxes, Total Income from Operations for the quarter and twelve months ended 31st March, 2018 are not comparable with the previous periods,” said ITC.
Total expenses of ITC were at Rs 6,996.46 crore against Rs 11,363.78 crore in the fourth quarter of FY2016-17.
Revenue from total FMCG business, including cigarettes, was Rs 7,988.27 crore in January-March 2018 against Rs 11,840.70 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.
During the quarter, revenue from cigarettes was at Rs 4,936.45 crore. It was Rs 8,954.94 crore in the fourth quarter of FY2017-18.
“FMCG-Cigarettes performance reflects the severe pressure on legal cigarette industry volumes due to steep escalation of tax incidence under the GST regime even as illegal trade grows unabated,” the company said.