ITC Ltd posted a marginal 0.3 per cent decline in net profit on a consolidated basis on the back of a cost push in the quarter ended June 30 even as the revenue from operations grew 7.5 per cent.

The company’s profit after tax stood at ₹5,176.99 crore in Q1FY25 compared with ₹5,189.61 crore in the same period last year. Revenue from operations grew to ₹20,029.6 crore compared with ₹18,639.48 crore in Q1FY24.

With the tailwind of a stable tax regime, cigarettes continued to post impressive growth in revenue and profit before tax.

The non-tobacco FMCG business, comprising food and personal care, returned a resilient performance despite muted demand and extreme heat wave conditions experienced in some parts of the country.

Cigarette revenue in the quarter stood at ₹8,842.2 crore, up 5.8 per cent from ₹8,355.66 crore in Q1FY24, while the PBT for the period was ₹5,255.06 crore, up 6.3 per cent from ₹4,944.02 crore.

For the non-tobacco FMCG segment, PBT was up 10.4 per cent at ₹479.17 crore compared with ₹433.93 crore in Q1FY24, while revenue inched up 6.3 per cent to ₹5,498.8 crore compared with ₹5172.71 crore.

Profit at the consolidated level was hit by lacklustre performances of hotels, agri, paperboards, paper and packaging segments.

The company attributed the weak performance of the paperboards, paper and packaging segments to cheap Chinese supplies flooding international markets, including India and a surge in domestic wood prices.

However, with a focus on value added speciality paper and sustainable packaging solutions, ITC managed to mitigate the headwinds marginally and the company in a commentary said green shoots of recovery are visible.

Revenue from the segment dropped 6.8 per cent to ₹1,976.85 crore from ₹2,120.76 crore in the first quarter of FY24. However, PBT declined 45.6 per cent to ₹256.15 crore from ₹471.26 crore.

The hotels and agri business marginally slipped on PBT — while hospitality accounted for the depreciation of the newly-opened ITC Ratnadipa in Colombo, the company’s first overseas property, agri business also factored in the depreciation effect of the new nicotine and nicotine derivative plant.

Notwithstanding fewer wedding dates, heatwaves and election impacting domestic tourism, hotel revenue grew 14.2 per cent to ₹713.3 crore from ₹624.9 crore in Q1FY24. However, PBT dipped 8.9 per cent on a consolidated basis to ₹122.21 crore from ₹134.30 crore a year ago.

ITC’s agri-business, which continues to be impacted by a wheat export ban imposed by the Centre, reported a 22.2 per cent revenue growth to ₹6,997.89 crore from ₹5,726.98 crore in Q1FY24, aided by value added products, coffee and spice exports. However, PBT marginally dropped 2.2 per cent to ₹344.6 crore against ₹352.37 crore in Q1FY24.