ITC shares gain on reports of hike in select cigarette prices

Shares of diversified major ITC advanced over 1 per cent in early trade after reports that the company has increased prices of select cigarette Kings brand by 20 per cent to Rs 360 per 20 cigarette pack.

The scrip was trading 0.85 per cent up at Rs 283.80 around 9.55 am (IST). Shares of the company opened at Rs 281 and touched a high and low of Rs 284.50 and Rs 280, respectively, in trade so far. Benchmark BSE Sensex was down 11.37 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 32,226.51 at around the same time.

On the other hand, the company is also planning to enter into the healthcare sector by way of setting up a multi-speciality hospital in the country.

The company has faced some hiccups from GST. ITC on July 28 said that while demonetisation had “disrupted” the wholesale trade channels, implementation of GST had created some hiccups in transition, but becoming better every week.

It has registered a 7.4 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 2,560.50 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2017 as compared to Rs 2,384.67 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Its revenue from operations during the quarter under review increased by 4.1 per cent to Rs 13,800.42 crore as compared to Rs 13,253.06 in the year-ago period.

The company's revenue from cigarettes grew by 6.6 per cent to Rs 8,774.16 crore in the June quarter from Rs 8,230.60 crore in the same period last year.