Indian Railway Catering and Transportation Corporation (IRCTC) on Monday, November 7, declared an interim dividend of ₹2.50 per equity share for the financial year 2023-24. This represents 125% of the paid-up share capital amounting to ₹160 crore.
The record date for the purpose of payment of the interim dividend has been fixed as November 17, 2023, the company said in a filing while announcing its September quarter (Q2FY24) results.
The catering arm of the Indian Railways reported a 30% year-on-year (YoY) rise in standalone net profit at ₹295 crore for the quarter ended September 2023. The company had reported a net profit of ₹226 crore in the year-ago period.
The platform company's revenue from operations in the quarter under review spiked 23% on-year to ₹995 crore, compared to ₹806 crore in the same period a year ago.
Sequentially, the profit rose 27% in the second quarter from ₹232 crore reported in the previous June quarter. Revenues were flat quarter-on-quarter.
IRCTC's EBITDA or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose 20% on-year to ₹366.5 crore from ₹304.9 crore in the same quarter a year ago. The EBITDA margin stood at 36.8% as against 37.8% in the September quarter of last fiscal.
Segment-wise biz performance
While all segments of IRCTC performed strongly on a YoY basis, the state teertha segment had a stellar quarter.
Sales from state teertha climbed 119% on-year to ₹64.84 crore in the quarter under review from ₹29.62 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Internet ticketing sales rose 9% YoY to ₹327.50 crore as the company saw robust railway ticket sales in the quarter as travelling picked up. The same was ₹300 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.
Catering, which is the second-largest revenue contributor, saw its sales rise 29% on-year to ₹431.5 crore in the reported quarter.
Sales for the tourism segment jumped 39% to ₹96.55 crore in the second quarter of this fiscal.
The company's board has also approved the formation of a wholly-owned subsidiary (WOS) for IRCTC I-Pay business, subject to the approval of Registrar of Companies and other appropriate authorities.
IRCTC to move from largecap to midcap?
The IRCTC stock can move from the large-cap category to the mid-cap category during the upcoming semi-annual categorisation of stocks by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) in January 2024, according to Nuvama Quantitative and Alternative Research.
Apart from IRCTC, stocks including UPL, Hero MotoCorp, Adani Wilmar, PI Industries, Bosch, Tube Investments and Samvardhana Motherson, can move to the mid-cap category from large-cap category, according to Nuvama’s analysis.
IRCTC shares on Tuesday closed 1.68% higher at ₹682.75 apiece on the NSE. The scrip gained 6.29% so far this year, while it fell 10.31% in the last one year.
First Published: Nov 7, 2023 4:00 PM IST
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