ITC is a A /T+2 group Diversified FMCG company having Face value of Rs 1.00. ITC Ltd is one of India's foremost private sector companies with a diversified presence in Cigarettes Hotels Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging, Agri-Business Packaged Foods & Confectionery Information Technology, Branded Apparel, Personal Care, Stationery, Safety Matches and other FMCG products.

Fundamentals (FY22-23):

Financial Results:

Company’s Net Sales Rs 18,608.00 crore in September 2022 up 25.35%, Quarterly Net Profit at Rs. 4,619.77 crore in September 2022 up 24.4% and its EBITDA stands at Rs. 6,713.78 crore in September 2022 up 22.37% compared to September 2021.

List of recent updates regarding the company:

1. ITC posted yet another quarter of strong numbers in Q2FY23 with all key business verticals registered strong performance with the cigarette, non-cigarette FMCG, Agri and paperboard, paper & packaging (PPP) business grew by 23 %, 21 %, 44 % and 25 %YoY, respectively.
2. Recently, ITC entered a new business venture that is cloud kitchen and sets up 12 cloud kitchens and 48 brand outlets in Bengaluru. The brand portfolio consists of ITC Master Chef Creations (premium North Indian), ITC Sunfeast Baked Creations (gourmet bakery and desserts), ITC Aashirvaad Soul Creations (wholesome and everyday goodness brand) and Biryani Creations by ITC Master Chef.
3. Post covid the company's hotel business saw an 81.8% revenue jump, signaling a strong comeback from the impact of COVID-related curbs on travelling and it regained Rs 4-trillion m-cap after 5 years: stock surges 50% in 6 months.
4. ITC has also launched its super app Meta Market for Advanced Agricultural Services (ITCMAARS) to provide agricultural and allied services to farmers on a digital platform. The app has been launched in seven states with over 40,000 farmers grouped in 200-plus farmer produce organizations (FPOs) under four value chains – wheat, paddy, soya, and chilli. With the ultimate aspiration is to take it to 4,000 FPOs and 10 million farmers and 20 value chains.
5. Foreign Institutional Investors have steadily increased their holdings from 10 % in December last year to nearly 13.5 % stake in the Hotels-to-FMCG conglomerate, according to its September-quarter shareholding pattern.
6. Fortune Hotels, a member of ITC’s hotel group recently opened its new property in Kufri, Shimla which is the fourth addition to the Fortune Hotel brand in Himachal Pradesh after Dalhousie, McLeod Ganj and Kasauli. In total it has 41 operational hotels in the country under Fortune Hotels Brand.
7. ITC Hotels also signed a management contract with A.R.V. Hotels Private Limited for Welcomhotel in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh which offers 124 rooms, more than 15,000 sq. ft. of banquet space along with two restaurants, a swimming pool, a spa, and a fitness centre.
8. It also launched its internationally benchmarked spices plant in Palnadu, Andhra Pradesh. It will have processing lines for turmeric, chilli, and blended spices, with an annual capacity of 20,400 MT of spices and the capability to produce over 15 organic spices which will boost ITC’s food exports globally.
9. ITC recently launched and is launching many new hotels under ITC, Mementos, Welcomhotel, Storii, Fortune and Welcomeheritage hotels brands in different cities such as ITC Narmada in Ahmedabad, ITC Ratnadipa in Colombo (Srilanka), Mementos By ITC Hotels Ekaaya, Udaipur, Welcomhotel By ITC Hotels Jim Corbett, Welcomhotel By ITC Hotels Jim Corbett, Storii By ITC Hotels Shanti Morada, Storii By ITC Hotels Amoha Retreat, Dharamshala, Fortune Park Hoshiarpur, Punjab, Fortune Park Tiruppur, Tamilnadu and many more.
10. ‘ITC e-store’ the Company’s exclusive D2C platform is also now operational in 15 cities. Powered by state-of-the-art digital technologies and a robust fulfilment infrastructure, the platform offers consumers on-demand access to a wide range of the Company’s FMCG products across 45+ categories and over 850 products under one roof. Consumer response has been excellent.

In past one year the stock gave a return of 54.93% as compared to Nifty which gave a return of 2.66% and 54.99% return compared to 3.13% rise in Sensex.

Company’s strong financials and countrywide presence is backed by highest market share in Cigarette along with its fastest growing Hotel groups, FMCG brands, agribusiness, and stationary products. With the launch of new age Apps such as ITC Hotels, ITCMAARS and ITC e-store for its various businesses the company has forayed its steps into technology and sustainability driven business strategies. Company’s new growth driven strategies in its each business segment has helped it to range higher and higher in past years and will continue to contribute to its future growth too and considering this the stock is recommended for long term period.

 - HET ZAVERI

info@smartinvestment.in

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