ITC’s Dec quarter net profit rises

ITC Ltd, India’s largest cigarette maker, on Thursday reported a 12.7% jump in its December quarter standalone profit. Net profit rose to ₹4,156.20 crore in the quarter ended 31 December, up from ₹3,687.88 crore a year earlier, the company said in a filing to the stock exchanges.

Revenue from operations at the maker of Bingo chips and Gold Flake cigarettes for the quarter grew 31.6% from year-ago to touch ₹16,806.89 crore up from ₹12,762.08 crore, much ahead of street expectations, according to an exchange filing by the company.

A Bloomberg poll of analysts had pegged ITC to report standalone revenues of ₹13,263.66 crore, with net profit coming in at ₹4,792 crore. The company’s board also approved an interim dividend of ₹5.25 per share for the current financial year.

“Enhanced vaccination coverage coupled with an uptick in business and consumer sentiments led to broad-based growth across markets and channels even as leading indicators reflected a deceleration in the pace of rural demand recovery,” the company said in a statement. But it flagged “unprecedented” inflation in commodity prices, rise in ene-rgy costs and persistent global supply chain disruptions.