Calcutta, Jan. 27: Sanjiv Puri is set to take over as the chief executive officer of ITC from February 5 after the board of the tobacco-to-hospitality major formally endorsed his appointment today. As the chairman and non-executive director, Y.C. Deveshwar will be the mentor from the same date.
The board also accepted the appointment of David Robert Simpson as an additional non-executive director.
Simpson is a representative of Tobacco Manufacturers (India) Ltd, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco Plc. Simpson, a qualified lawyer, comes in after R.E. Lerwill resigned from the board on medical grounds in July.
Tobacco Manufacturers (India) Ltd is a major investor in the Calcutta-based company, holding a 24.62 per cent stake as on December 31, 2016.
ITC today reported a 5.71 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 2,646.73 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2016, as the FMCG business faced low consumer demand following the government's decision to withdraw high-denomination currency notes.
While the impact was felt across all segments, sales of biscuits, snacks, noodles, personal care products and branded apparel were impacted the most in the initial phase, the company added.
The cigarette business during the quarter was also subdued on account of tight liquidity and tax pressures on the industry.
Total income from operations was up 4.69 per cent to Rs 13,569.97 crore for the quarter under review from Rs 12,961.85 crore in the previous fiscal.
Revenue from the FMCG business, including cigarettes, increased 2.51 per cent to Rs 10,857.23 crore from Rs 10,591.22 crore a year ago.
During the quarter, revenue from cigarettes went up 2.24 per cent to Rs 8,287.97 crore from Rs 8,106.31 crore in the year-ago period.
Revenue from the hotel business grew 7.30 per cent to Rs 370.51 crore from Rs 345.29 crore in the same period last year.
ITC said it had implemented several initiatives to ease the impact of demonetisation, such as increasing the service frequency at grocery outlets, ramping up presence in modern trade outlets, increasing direct servicing of select low population group markets and extending temporary credit to select customers.
The ITC stock was down 2.78 per cent to Rs 257.50 on the BSE today.
