ITC shares fall 2% as stakeholder BAT mulls stake sale

Shares of ITC Ltd slipped in Tuesday's trade after British American Tobacco (BAT) said it is evaluating a possible disposal of a "small part" of its shareholding in India's cigarette-to-hotels conglomerate through an on-market block trade.

Following this, shares of India's FMCG major fell 2.46 per cent to hit a low of Rs 399.30 over its previous close of Rs 409.40. BAT had earlier stated that its stake in ITC decreased from 29.19 per cent in 2022 to 29.02 per cent in 2023.

"BAT selling shares will not have a significant impact. Decision making will be faster now. If that were to happen, then re-listing of ITC Hotels could take place followed by value unlocking in these counters," Vinit Bolinjkar, Head of Research at Ventura Securities, told Business Today TV.

BAT had announced in February that it was "actively working" to reduce its roughly 29 per cent stake in the Kolkata-headquartered company. The American firm is the largest stakeholder in ITC.

Separately, ITC has acquired shares of Sproutlife Foods Pvt Ltd.

On BSE, around 15.97 lakh shares changed hands today. The figure was higher than the two-week average volume of 6.08 lakh shares. Turnover on the counter came at Rs 64.12 crore, commanding a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 5,01,630.29 crore.

ITC's third-quarter (Q3 FY24) profit rose 10.8 per cent, to Rs 5,572 crore, in the three months ended December 31, from a year earlier. Revenue from operations rose 2 per cent, to Rs 17,665 crore, with the cigarettes business growing 3.6 per cent.

ITC's hotels business (set to demerge into a separate entity) reported an 18 per cent jump in revenue in the quarter, on the back of a strong revival in domestic tourism and heightened demand from corporate bookings.