The Hindu : Business : ITC net up 17 p.c. at Rs. 652 crore in Q1

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 22, 2006

Business

Business

ITC net up 17 p.c. at Rs. 652 crore in Q1

Special Correspondent

Hotels business posts a strong performance

Y. C. Deveshwar

KOLKATA: ITC posted a 25.7 per cent growth in net turnover at Rs. 2,850 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2006, driven by the non-cigarette businesses that grew 44 per cent and now accounted for 50.2 per cent of the company's net turnover.

The key growth drivers were stated to be the continued ramp-up of the foods business, higher agri-business revenues and a strong performance by the hotels business. The company's post-tax profit for the quarter at Rs. 652.28 crore recorded a 16.8 per cent growth, while the pre-tax profit at Rs. 967.15 crore grew 16.5 per cent. The financial results for the quarter were approved by the company's board at its meeting here on Friday.

The annual general meeting of the company was also held.

The company's Branded Packaged Foods business continued to expand rapidly with sales growing 62 per cent over last year.

The hotels business posted a strong performance during the quarter with segment revenues growing by 35 per cent to Rs. 199 crore on the back of improved occupancies/realisations across properties. Underlying growth in segment results stood at 96 per cent over last year after adjusting for the once-off pre-tax income of Rs. 26.77 crores (net) arising from the settlement reached with the owners of Searock Hotel in May 2005 and included in the financials for the quarter ended June 30, 2005.

A comprehensive renovation and product upgradation programme is under way at various hotels. The business also made a steady progress in the construction of its new super-deluxe luxury hotel in Bangalore. Substantial progress was achieved towards developing the project plans for a new property in Chennai.

PTI reports:

Rs. 15,000 cr. investment

ITC would invest up to Rs. 15,000 crore in the next few years to expand its business, with a major share likely to be earmarked for growth of the company's e-choupal (Internet kiosk) network, Chairman Y. C. Deveshwar said at the company's AGM.

Mr. Deveshwar hinted that a major portion of the new investment would go into expanding the e-choupal network. Nearly Rs. 5,000 crore would be invested to increase the e-choupal infrastructure to more than 6,000 installations covering one lakh villages and 3.5 million farmers.

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