煙草在線據彭博社報道編譯　　印度最大的煙草公司ITC公司報告，在其提高卷煙價格致使其最大的業務需求銳減之后，其銷售增長的速度減緩至4年來的最低點。公司的股票也下跌了。

　　10月24日，總部位于印度加爾各答的ITC公司說，在截止9月底的3個月中，ITC公司的凈銷售增長8.8%，達到778億盧比（13億美元）。這是自截止2009年6月底的季度以來銷售增幅最小的一個季度，并且未能達到彭博公司編寫的由31名分析師預估的中間值811億盧比。

　　今年9月，ITC公司將一些卷煙品牌的價格提高了10%之多，使得第二季度的凈收入增加了21%。據ICICI Direct公司的分析師Sanjay Manyal說，從長期來看，該公司通過對最暢銷的產品提價來提高利潤的戰略的發展是不可持續的，因為銷售增速減緩顯示，該公司正在以“令人擔憂”的速度失去吸煙者。

　　在孟買工作的Sanjay Manyal在接受電話采訪時說：“銷售增長減緩幾乎在所有的產品部門都很明顯。”在上個季度，卷煙銷量可能至少下降了7%。他說：“這次卷煙銷量的下滑，可能是大約5年來下滑幅度最大的一次。”

　　10月24日，ITC的股票在孟買下跌了0.8%，跌至340.05盧比。該公司股票今年已經上漲了19%，而基準指數S&P BSE Sensex則上漲了6.5%。

　　利潤攀升

　　經營從肥皂到賓館業務的財團ITC說，公司截止9月底的這個季度的凈收入從上年同期的184億盧比增長至223億盧比。與之相比，彭博公司編寫的由31名分析師預估的中間值為212億盧比。

　　Sanjay Manyal說，卷煙總銷售比一年前增長了11%。在過去一年里，ITC公司將自己的卷煙價格平均提高了18%，以抵償政府征收的較高的消費稅。

　　Microsec資本公司在加爾各答工作的分析師Naveen Vyas在接受采訪時說，由于再三提價，一些吸食ITC公司的Gold Flake和Classic Milds牌卷煙的消費者要么轉向了其競爭對手生產的更為便宜的產品，要么代之以被稱為比迪煙或嚼煙的印度手卷煙。

　　ITC公司賓館業務的稅前利潤下降了43%，減少至8720萬盧比。ITC公司說：“一方面，餐飲業繼續受到主要國際客源市場和印度普遍疲軟的經濟狀況的負面影響，同時，在印度的一些主要城市供應的住處大大增加的情況，也給餐飲業帶來了消極影響。”

　　Motilal Oswal證券公司的分析師Rakesh Tarway通過電子郵件發表評論說：“扣除卷煙業務的利稅前的收益頗豐，達到65%。在未來的數個季度中，卷煙銷量的任何增長都會給卷煙業務帶來巨額的息稅前利潤增長。”

India: ITC Sales Growth Slows to 4-Year Low on Higher Cigarette Prices

　　ITC Ltd. (ITC), India's biggest tobacco company, posted the slowest pace of sales growth in four years after an increase in the price of its cigarettes damped demand at its biggest business. Shares fell.

　　Net sales rose 8.8 percent to 77.8 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) in the three months ended September, the Kolkata-based company said yesterday. That was the smallest jump since the quarter ended June 2009 and missed the 81.1 billion-rupee median of 31 analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

　　ITC raised prices of some brands of cigarettes by as much as 10 percent in September, helping lift net income 21 percent in the second quarter. The company's strategy of boosting its profits by charging more for its best-selling products is not sustainable in the long term as the slowing growth suggests the company is losing smokers at a rate "that's a cause for concern," according to Sanjay Manyal, an analyst at ICICI Direct.

　　"Slower sales growth is very much visible in almost all the segments," Mumbai-based Manyal said in a phone interview. Volume of cigarette sales likely fell by at least 7 percent in the last quarter, he said. "This could well be the sharpest drop in cigarette volumes in about 5 years."

　　ITC fell 0.8 percent to 340.05 rupees in Mumbai yesterday. The stock has climbed 19 percent this year, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex has gained 6.5 percent.

　　Profit Jumps

　　Net income rose to 22.3 billion rupees in the quarter from 18.4 billion rupees a year earlier, the soaps-to-hotels conglomerate said. That compared with the 21.2 billion-rupee median of 31 analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

　　Cigarette gross sales grew 11 percent from a year earlier. In the past one year, ITC raised prices of its cigarettes by an average 18 percent to compensate for higher excise taxes levied by the government, Manyal said.

　　As a result of these repeated price increases, some consumers smoking its Gold Flake and Classic Milds cigarettes are either switching to cheaper products made by rivals, or substitutes like hand-rolled Indian cigarettes called bidis or chewing tobacco, Naveen Vyas, Kolkata-based analyst at Microsec Capital Ltd. said in an interview.

　　Profit before tax at its hotels business fell 43 percent to 87.2 million rupees. "The hospitality sector continued to be adversely impacted by the weak economic conditions prevailing in major international source markets and India on the one hand, and significant additions to room supplies in key Indian cities," ITC said.

　　Earnings before interest and tax "margin for cigarette business came at a hefty 65 percent," Rakesh Tarway, an analyst at Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd., said in e-mailed comments. "Any volume growth in cigarettes during the coming quarters will bring in huge EBIT growth for the cigarettes business." Enditem