IRCTC shares rise after profit jumps 26% in March quarter on boost from tourism business

Shares of online ticketing and catering arm of Indian Railways, Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), rose as much as 3.04% to hit an intraday high of ₹799 on Thursday after it reported January-March quarter earnings post market hours on Wednesday.

IRCTC's consolidated net profit in March quarter rose 26% to ₹358 crore from ₹284 crore in the same period last year.

The jump in profit came on the back of an exceptional gain of ₹46 crore and strong performance by its tourism business.

IRCTC’s revenue from operations advanced 10% to ₹1,268 crore as against ₹1,152 crore in the year-ago period.

Operationally, IRCTC reported stable performance as its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also known as operating profit rose 6% to ₹385 crore, but its EBITDA margin contracted by 110 basis points to 20.4% from 31.5% in the corresponding period a year earlier.

The company's board recommended a final dividend of ₹2 per share.

IRCTC earned maximum revenue from its catering business in March quarter but annually it saw a marginal contraction. Revenue from catering business declined 0.3% to ₹529 crore from ₹531 crore in the year-ago period.

The company earned ₹96 crore from packaged drinking water business Rail Neer, ₹372 crore from internet ticketing business and ₹274 crore from tourism business.

IRCTC's profit before tax from catering business rose 39% to ₹64.60 crore, profit from Rail Neer rose 10% to ₹11.70 crore, profit from internet ticketing business advanced 12% to ₹307 crore and profit from tourism business jumped 163% to ₹50 crore.

As of 9:40 am, IRCTC shares traded 0.42% higher at ₹779.50, outperforming the BSE200 index which was trading on a flat note.