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Inching towards the ₹10,000-crore mark, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) posted a consolidated net profit of ₹9,459 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, boosted by higher realisations from the refining and petrochemical businesses. The conglomerate, controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, had recorded a net profit of ₹8,021 crore, excluding exceptional items, in the comparable year-ago quarter.
For the April-June quarter of FY18, the oil-to-telecom company’s net profit stood at ₹9,108 crore, including a ₹1,087-crore profit from a stake divestment in Gulf Africa Petroleum Corp. While net profit rose 17.9 per cent, excluding exceptional items, it posted a meagre 3.85 per cent rise including the exceptional item.
“Our petrochemicals business generated record EBITDA with strong volumes and an upswing in polyester chain margins. Refining business performance remained steady despite the seasonal weakness in cracks. Continuing strength in the global demand for oil products and the implementation of more stringent environmental norms for marine fuels augur well for our refining business,” said Ambani, RIL’s CMD.
In the quarter under review, RIL’s consolidated revenue rose 56.5 per cent to ₹1.42 lakh crore from the ₹90,537 crore posted in the year-ago period, as revenue from operations jumped 46.98 per cent to ₹1.33 lakh crore.
“RIL’s consumer businesses — RJio and Reliance Retail — now contribute about 21 per cent of the company’s total revenue. RJio now has about 250 million users, while retail expanded to about 800 stores in this quarter itself,” said RIL’s Joint CFO V Srikanth.
On a standalone basis, net profit rose 7.6 per cent to ₹8,820 crore (from ₹8,196 crore) on operational revenue of ₹95,472 crore (₹70,434 crore). The company's revenue from the refining and marketing business during the first quarter rose 42.9 per cent to ₹95,646 crore (₹66,945 crore). The gross refining margins — earnings from turning a barrel of crude oil into refined products — fell to $10.5 per barrel from $11.9 a year ago, impacted by higher crude prices.
RJio net rises 20%
RJio, the company’s wholly-owned wireless subsidiary, posted a 19.9 per cent rise in net profit at ₹612 crore for the June quarter, compared with ₹510 crore recorded during the sequential quarter ended March. The earnings rose on a growth in subscriber additions and higher data usage.
The comparable figures were not available as the telecom operator had started commercial operations in June last year .
“We doubled our customer base and most user metrics in the last 12 months; 215 million customers within 22 months of start is a record that no technology company has been able to achieve anywhere in the world,” Ambani said.
During the quarter, RJio’s average revenue per user stood at ₹134.5 per month, while its subscriber net addition stood at 28.7 million.
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