ITC ended its fourth quarter of 2011-12 with a 26 per cent growth in its post-tax profit which stood at Rs.1,614.4 crore on a net income of Rs.6,861 crore which was 17.6 per cent higher than the same quarter of the previous year.
ITC said that its performance was driven by the robust performance in the non-cigarette segment. Diversifying its operations aggressively over the last few years, especially in the FMCG space, ITC is now present in hotels, paper and paperboards, personal care and agribusiness.
Its profits for 2011-12, rose by 23.6 per cent touching Rs.6,162.4 crores on a turnover of Rs.24,798.4 crore which was 17.2 per cent higher than that of 2010-11 a company release said.
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Dividend
ITC, which declared a dividend of Rs.4.5 per share in 2011-12 (compared to last year's Rs.4.45 per share, including a special anniversary dividend), said that during 2011-12, non-cigarette FMCG business grow by 23.6 per cent. However, hotels business continued to be impacted by the weak environment in global markets as well as the domestic economy. There was a good boost from the agri-business segment.
On the hotels business, which remained flat, the company said that international and domestic business segments for the luxury hotels business remained muted. A new brand of business hotels — My Fortune — was launched in the year under review, in Chennai and an expansion of this brand is being planned. Bearing in mind the positive long-term outlook for the industry, an investment-led growth strategy is being planned and the ITC Grand Chola is now scheduled for a launch this year.
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The paperboards business was impacted by the rupee depreciation, although the company was able to somewhat blunt the impact through its integrated operations. Segment revenues and results showed modest double-digit growth.
Agri-business
The company said that the commodity sourcing business model with multi-location sourcing. Logistics and supply chain management was able to leverage strengths to help scale up business. While net agri-business revenue increased to Rs.5,695.3 crore from Rs.4,747.9 crores, profits increased from Rs.566.3 crore to Rs.643.2 crores.