ITC seizes the market; its sales surpass their pre-pandemic levels

In spite of significant disruptions during the year, ITC posted robust growth in revenues and profits, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

ITC's consumer-centricity, agility in seizing market opportunities, focus on execution excellence and proactive strategic interventions enabled it to post robust growth.

Overall for FY 2021-22, gross revenue at Rs 59,101.09 crore increased by 22.7 percent, while EBITDA increased by 22 percent to Rs 18,933.66 crore. Profit before tax at Rs 19,829.53 crore grew by 15.5 percent over the previous year while profit after tax stood at Rs 15,057.83 crore as against the previous year's Rs 13,031.68 crore.

Total comprehensive income for the year stood at Rs 15,631.68 crore (previous year Rs 13,277.93 crore). Earnings per share for the year stood at Rs 12.22 (previous year Rs 10.59).

An extensive strategy reset has been undertaken in recent years to architect the structural drivers that will power ITC's next horizon of growth and ensure that the enterprise remains future-ready, consumer-centric and nimble.

Each of ITC's businesses has pivoted to create new frontiers for the future, with enhanced competitiveness as well as sharper focus on cost management to strengthen the leadership or rapidly enhance market standing in the case of newer segments.

As a core element of the ITC Next strategy, the company will continue to explore opportunities to craft disruptive business models anchored at the intersection of digital and sustainability, the two defining trends in the 'new normal', leveraging its institutional strengths.

The FMCG-Others segment turned in a resilient performance with segment revenue growing by 8.6 per cent amid subdued demand conditions. After a relatively muted first half, revenue in the second half of the year witnessed double-digit growth.

Staples and Convenience Foods remained resilient even as the pace of revenue growth moderated on a relatively high base. Discretionary/Out-of-Home categories recorded strong growth surpassing pre-pandemic levels driven by progressive improvement in mobility.

Progressive resumption of physical classes at educational institutions led to gradual recovery in the Education & Stationery Products business, however, sales remained below pre-pandemic levels. Segment EBITDA for the year grew by 10 per cent to Rs 1,448.97 crore with margins being sustained at 9.1 per cent in spite of unprecedented inflationary headwinds.

To accentuate consumer-centricity, agility and enable sharper focus in the context of the growing scale and complexity of operations, the Branded Packaged Foods businesses have been reorganised into market centric clusters with integrated and empowered teams.

Focused interventions made in the recent past have also augmented ITC's multi-channel go-to-market capability, resulting in manifold expansion in the reach and availability of its products. Over the last five years, market and outlet coverage have grown 4x and 1.6x, respectively, while the network of stockists has expanded to 6.4x during the same period.

The impact of these multi-dimensional interventions is evident in the substantial margin expansion of 650 bps in Segment EBITDA over the last five years even in the face of significant inflationary headwinds witnessed during the year.

After an extremely challenging FY 2020-21, the Hotels Segment witnessed smart recovery driven by the domestic leisure and wedding segments; business travel also saw progressive improvement, albeit remaining well below pre-pandemic levels. Pick-up in revenues together with relentless focus on cost management resulted in a positive swing of Rs 346.63 crore in Segment EBITDA, despite considerable disruptions caused by the two waves of the pandemic during the year.

The Agri Business segment delivered stellar performance with segment revenue and results growing by 28.7 per cent and 25.6 per cent, respectively. This was driven by strong growth in wheat, rice, spices and leaf tobacco exports on the back of strong customer relationships, robust sourcing network and agile execution.

The Agri Business has been a strong backbone and a key source of competitive advantage for ITC's FMCG and cigarettes businesses. The scope and scale of operations have grown manifold over the years and currently encompass over 4 million tonnes in 22 states and over 20 agri-value chains.

The Paperboards, Paper and Packaging segment recorded strong growth of 36 per cent in segment revenue and 54.7 per cent in segment results. This was aided by demand revival across most end-user segments, higher realisations, product mix enrichment and exports.

Robust margin expansion of appx. 270 bps was achieved leveraging the integrated nature of the business model, Industry 4.0 and other digital interventions.

During the year, ITC Infotech's consolidated total income grew by 16.8 per cent to Rs 2,884.30 crore (previous year Rs 2,469.29 crore). Profit before tax stood at Rs 719.64 crore (previous year Rs 604.13 crore) and net profit stood at Rs 541.04 crore (previous year Rs 451.30 crore).

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