The board of the cigarettes-to-hotels major have recommended a dividend ofRs 7.50 per Rs 10 equity share, a record for the company. Last year, it hadpaid 55 per cent. The pre-tax profit grew by 31 per cent.

On the Calcutta Stock Exchange, the ITC scrip dipped by over 4 per cent onWednesday. It opened at Rs 637, and closed at Rs 609.50. The day's high andlow were Rs 654 and Rs 599 respectively. The results were announced afterthe market closed.

The company said the "impressive performance" was due to cost management,productivity improvements, and value-addition to its products and services.Gross sales rose by around 5 per cent to Rs 8,069.37 crore in 1999-2000,from Rs 7,700.96 crore in the previous fiscal. The company said it loweredinterest cost by around 27 per cent to Rs 112.55 crore, from Rs 154.09crore.

The net trading margin improved to 35.12 per cent, and a substantial amountof debt, including loans in foreign exchange which were prone to exchangefluctuations, was retired to bring down the interest cost, the company said.Following this, its debt-equity ratio is now 0.23, with a substantiallyimproved return on net assets. A statement said the company's earning pershare touched a new high of Rs 32.29 in 1999-2000, against Rs 25.40 in theprevious year.

The company has, however, not made any provision this year on account of itsSingapore-based subsidiary ITC Global which faces winding up by judicialauthorities. A spokesperson said: "It was not necessary to make a provision".Last year, the company had made a Rs 60-crore provision for its liabilitieson account of ITC Global. Its tax provisioning of Rs 436.51 crore for fiscal1999-2000 is up from Rs 314.61 crore in the previous year.

The ITC group's export turnover rose to Rs 832 crore in fiscal 1999-2000,against Rs 772 crore in the previous year, due to a satisfactory globaltrading environment, especially because of a glut in leaf tobacco and a fallin agricultural exports.

In line with its strategy, ITC's investments in its hotel business isprogressing on schedule. The new 80-room wing at Maurya Sheraton in NewDelhi is complete, and is awaiting regulatory clearances. The Mumbai project- ITC Grand Martha - will be commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2000, thestatement said.

ITC has realigned its protfolio to focus on growth areas like informationtechnology, and plans to provide e-commerce solutions, which is tocompliment its existing lines of business in enterprise resource planning,Groupware, and client server technologies. The company has convened itsannual general meeting on July 28.