RIL Q1 net up 7% at Rs 10,104 crore; Jio, retail boost revenues by 22%

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Friday reported a 6.8 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 10,104 crore for the quarter ended June this year on the back of a record 22 per cent jump in revenue at Rs 1.72 trillion.

Consumer businesses contribute 32 per cent of the consolidated segment gross earnings (or earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation, or Ebitda) for the quarter.

For the same quarter last quarter, the company reported a net profit of Rs 9,459 crore.

Revenue was 22.1 per cent higher than the Rs 1.41 trillion in the corresponding period a year ago.

Consolidated debt as of June 2019 was at Rs 2.88 trillion compared to Rs 2.87 trillion as of March 2019.

Debt reduction on account of moving tower assets to the infrastructure investment trust was accounted for the March quarter. The company beat street expectations, which estimated net profit to be lower.

In a Bloomberg poll, 10 analysts estimated consolidated net profit at Rs 9,697 crore and a revenue of Rs 1.46 trillion.

The Mukesh Ambani-controlled company’s retail quarterly earnings reached Rs 2,049 crore, with a revenue growth rate of 48 per cent over the April-June quarter last year and Ebitda growth of 70 per cent.

“This was a resilient quarter. There were fluctuations on crude oil prices, macro headwinds, and US-China trade tensions. Integration between refining and petchem has helped absorb the volatility,” said V Srikanth, joint chief financial officer, RIL.

Capital expenditure in the June quarter was Rs 22,627 crore. Ebitda in petrochemicals, at Rs 8,810 crore, was marginally reduced, with 5.4 per cent lower volumes on planned turnarounds.

Reliance Jio made a gross addition of 33.8 million subscribers during the quarter. This translated into revenue and Ebitda growth of 44 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively. Its net profit rose by 45.6 per cent at Rs 891 crore.

RIL’s standalone net profit increased 2.4 per cent to Rs 9,036 crore. The gross refining margin (GRM) for the quarter was at $8.1 a barrel, a $4.6 increase over the Singapore complex margins.

The GRM is the lowest since October-December 2014, when it was at $7.3 per barrel. The company in its statement said commissioning its petcoke gasifiers had been completed, and this is expected to add $2-3 to its GRM. Srikanth said: “We are expecting the GRM to be stable, with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations being a positive.”

The new IMO regulations, starting January next year, will require ships to use cleaner bunker fuel. Exports (including deemed exports) were lower by 4.5 per cent at Rs 50,158 crore as against the Rs 52,501 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Lower price realisation across petrochemicals and refining products, led by a 7.4 per cent fall in the Brent oil price over the same quarter last year, and lower volumes of fibre intermediates contributed to the decline in exports, said the company.