Conglomerate ITC has reported a 23.1 per cent rise in profit after tax on a consolidated basis at Rs 5,080.25 crore in the third quarter of the fiscal even as revenues from operation went up marginally by 3.56 per cent to Rs 19,020.65 crore.

Led by healthy volume recovery in the cigarette business, which was ahead of analysts’ expectations, all other segments reported higher profit than the corresponding previous quarter.

Except for the agri business, which was hit by India’s ban on wheat and rice export, revenues from all segments also witnessed an uptick.

The board has recommended an interim dividend of Rs 6.00 per share (previous year Rs 5.25 per share) for the year ending March 31.

In a note to the result, the company said that economic activity in India continued to gather momentum with sequential moderation in commodity inflation, even as core inflation remained elevated.

However, rural demand continued to be subdued, while improving sequentially. Consumer sentiments improved but remained below pre-pandemic levels, it added.

Segments

The cigarette business reported over a 16 per cent rise in segment revenue to Rs 8,085.72 crore while the pre-tax profit showed a similar increase to Rs 4,862.33 crore. Abneesh Roy of Nuvama Institutional Equities noted that cigarette volume growth was ahead of expectation of 11 per cent.

ITC attributed the growth to continued volume recovery from illicit trade on the back of stability in taxes on cigarettes and deterrent actions by enforcement agencies.

Roy said the FMCG business recorded good margins. The company said segment EBIDTA margin in Q3FY23stood at 10 per cent, compared with 9.1 per cent in Q3FY22.

Emami PAT up 6%

Emami on Friday reported a 6.12 per cent increase in consolidated profit after tax at Rs232.97 crore for the third quarter ended December amid contraction of gross margins due to inflationary pressure.

The company had posted a PAT of Rs 219.52 crore a year ago. Revenues rose 1.2 percent to Rs 982.72 crore from Rs 971.06 crore a year ago.