Pandemic-induced lockdown roiled the revenue from the cigarette, hotel and paper and paperboard businesses during the first quarter of the fiscal for ITC Ltd that posted a 14.29 per cent dip in total income and 25.5 per cent fall in net profit.

Non-tobacco FMCG, which includes food, health and personal care products, was the silver lining with the segment reporting a 10 per cent growth in revenue and 61.5 per cent jump in profit.

Total income on a consolidated basis stood at Rs 11,403.59 crore compared with Rs 13,305.19 crore in the same period last quarter. The net profit after tax came in at Rs 2,562.73 crore over Rs 3,440.97 crore a year ago.

Cigarette factories were shut from the end of March till the middle of May as it was not part of essential items. As a result, cigarette revenues were down to Rs 4,330.05 crore from Rs 6,141.92 crore, a drop of 29.5 per cent.

Revenue from hotels, which were mostly shut during the lockdown, slumped to a paltry Rs 24.92 crore from Rs 411.60 crore. Paper, paperboard and packaging business also bore the brunt of the pandemic as revenue and segment profit (before tax) were down 32.8 per cent and 51.4 per cent, respectively.

“Net revenue down was in line with our estimates. Noodles and biscuits had a very strong quarter with noodles outperforming as some of factories of the competition were closed,” Abneesh Roy, executive vice-president of Edelweiss Securities, said in the note.

JSW loss

JSW Steel swung to losses in the first quarter of the fiscal because of business disruption during the pandemic. The company posted Rs 582-crore loss in the April-June quarter rom Rs 1,008 crore profit in the same period last year.

Total income was down to Rs 11,914 crore in Q1 from Rs 19,953 crore in the same period last year. Saleable steel sales for the quarter stood at 2.79 million tonnes. The company enhanced exports to offset the loss of volumes in the domestic market, liquidate inventory and improve cash flows.

Asian Paints

Asian Paints on Friday reported a 67.32 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 219.61 crore for the June quarter because of the complete washout of the business in April. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 672.09 crore during the April-June quarter of the previous fiscal, Asian Paints said in a regulatory filing.