ITC net up 10.5% to ₹2,500 cr on high cigarette sales

NEWDELHI: ITC Ltd on Wednesday posted a 10.49% increase in standalone net profit to ₹2,500.03 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2016, helped largely by higher cigarette sales. The company had posted a net profit of ₹2,262.5 crore during the same period of the previous fiscal.

Total income from operations of the Kolkata-based firm went up 7.97% to ₹13,616.61 crore during the quarter, compared to ₹12,611.29 crore a year-ago.

“The company delivered another quarter of steady performance despite a challenging operating environment marked by continuing pressure on legal cigarette industry volumes, increase in input cost and subdued demand conditions prevailing in the FMCG industry,” ITC said in a statement.

Revenue from the total FMCG business, including cigarettes, increased 8.51% to ₹11,200.13 crore during the second quarter of 2016-17, from ₹10,321.08 crore a year-ago. Revenue from the cigarette business rose 7.09% to ₹8,528.47 crore, while revenue from Ithe hotel business grew 2.50% to ₹297.34 crore. NEWDELHI: For Apple chief executive Tim Cook, “India is the next China!”

In an earnings call after the announcement of the company’s quarterly results, Cook said he was hopeful of turning around India into the next China for Apple. “Our iphone sales in India were up over 50% in 2015-16 compared to the prior year, and we believe we’re just beginning to scratch the surface of this growing market opportunity.

“Looking ahead, we’re seeing some very exciting developments in India. Reliance Jio is rolling out a first-of-its-kind all-ip network in India with 4G coverage in 18,000 cities and 200,000 villages across the country. They’re offering a free year of service to purchasers of new iphones and we’re partnering with them to ensure great iphone performance on their network.”

Apple includes India in its Asia Pacific region, which reported $2.7 billion in sales during the quarter.

Iphone sales in China, which slowed down 30% during the July-september quarter, have failed to make a mark in the company’s balance sheet lately.

Overall, the company’s sales declined 9% to $46.85 billion in the three months to September – the third consecutive quarterly fall. The sales fall hit the company’s quarterly profits, which came in at $9 billion - a 19% decline on the same period a year earlier. For the year to September 2016, the iphone maker reported its first decline in annual sales and profit in 15 years. Net sales stood at $215.6 billion during the period under review, an 8% decrease on the record $233.7 billion of sales in the previous year. Profits declined 14% year-on-year to $45.7 billion during the period.

Apple is expecting India to plug the declining sales. “I think it’s clear that the population of India will exceed China sometime in probably the next decade or so, maybe less than that. If you look at the number of people who are or will move into the middle class sort of over the next decade, and the age of the population… in India, almost 50% of the population is under 25,” Cook said.

“There are enormous investments going in on 4G and we couldn’t be more excited about that because it really takes a great network working with iphone to produce that great experience for people… I see a lot of the factors moving in the right direction there.”