RIL posts biggest quarterly profit in 8 yrs at Rs 7,398 cr
The 16% jump in net profit was aided by strong margins in oil refining and petrochemicals businesses
Reliance Industries reported its highest quarterly net profit in over eight years as fall in oil prices boosted refining and petrochem margins, helping the company post a 16 % jump in earnings for the three- month period ended March 31. Consolidated net profit in January-March at Rs 7,398 crore or Rs 25.1 a share was 15.9 % higher than Rs 6,381 crore or Rs 21.7 per share profit a year ago, reports PTI.
Standalone net profit was 17.25 % higher at Rs 7,320 crore. This is the highest quarterly net profit for RIL since it clocked Rs 8,079 crore net profit in the third quarter of 2007-08. RIL, operator of the world's biggest oil-refinery complex, earned USD 10.8 for turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in the fourth quarter of 2015-16 compared with a gross refining margin of USD 10.1 per barrel a year ago. The GRM outperformed Singapore benchmark by USD 3.1 a barrel.
Sales, however, dropped 12% to Rs 64,569 crore in January-March. The company posted a record annual net profit at Rs 27,630 crore or Rs 93.1 per share in 2015-16, up 17.2 % over Rs 23,566 crore, or Rs 80.1 a share. Turnover fell by 23.8% to Rs 2,96,091 crore on lower oil prices.
RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said the much-talked about 4G telecom and highspeed broadband services will be launched this year. But he did not give a specific date. The refining segment of oil-to-telecom conglomerate recorded the highest ever quarterly pre-tax profit (EBIT) of Rs 6,394 crore, up 30.4 per year-on-year. Petrochemical EBIT was up 35.4 % at Rs 2,713 crore. The two helped offset 84.4% drop in EBIT from oil and gas business at Rs 14 crore.
"The segment profitability was impacted by lower oil and gas price realisations and decrease in domestic upstream volume. US shale operations were impacted by low commodity prices despite marginally higher volumes," RIL said.
Retail revenue up 21%
Reliance Industries Ltd today reported a 20.7% on year rise in revenue of its organised retail business, Reliance Retail Ltd, at 57.81 bln rupees for the quarter ended March aided primarily by store additions. The company added 202 stores across various verticals in the retail segment as part of an accelerated store opening programme which had started in the last financial year. As on March 31, the company operated 3,245 stores, RIL said.
Debt rose to Rs 1,81,079 crore from Rs 1,78,07 crore as on December 31. Cash balance also rose to Rs 86,033 crore as on March 31 as compared to Rs 91,736 crore as on December 31. Interest cost at Rs 813 crore in the fourth quarter was higher than Rs 677 crore in same period of the previous year due to higher average exchange rates. RIL shares fell 0.2 % to Rs 1,038.95 at the BSE. RIL declared Jan-Mar earnings post market hours.