RIL up 3% as it commissions final phase of Jamnagar paraxylene project

Reliance Industries (RIL) gained 3% to Rs 1,411 on BSE in intra-day trade in an otherwise range-bound market after the company on Thursday announced commissioning of the second and final phase of paraxylene project at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

"With the commissioning of this plant, RIL's PX capacity will be more than double. Reliance will emerge as the world's second largest producer of PX with about 11% of global production," the company said in a statement.

RIL on Tuesday announced it has completed its Ethan project with the commissioning of its ethane receipt & handling facilities and ethane cracking, at its Dahej Manufacturing Facility in Gujarat in a record time of less than three years.

The company said it has started to receive ethane at all three manufacturing facilities- Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane.

Meanwhile, the board of directors of RIL is scheduled to meet on Monday, April 24, 2017, to consider and approve standalone and consolidated audited financial results of the company for the quarter / year ended March 31, 2017 and to consider and recommend dividend on equity shares of the company.

RIL earnings will be supported by strong gross refining margin (GRM) due to narrowing Brent- Dubai spread and also from strong polyester spreads.

“We estimate robust operating performance with standalone EBIT up 6% QoQ, while significantly lower other income will squeeze PAT (at Rs 7,900 crore, down 2% QoQ). We expect GRM at USD11/bbl (up 2% QoQ), a USD4.6/bbl premium over Singapore benchmark. We estimate refining and petchem EBITs to improve 5/6%, respectively, on robust GRMs and petrochemical spreads. We estimate consolidated PAT at Rs 7,600 crore, which will be lower due to losses in shale segment,” analysts at Edelweiss Securities said in result preview.

“Except petcoke gasification, RIL’s core business capex is nearing its end with the last project start-up of PX, ROGC and Ethane sourcing scheduled for Q1FY18. Also, some of these projects would take some time to stabilize. Thus, we expect full benefits of the expansion to reflect in the P&L by FY19 with an expected profit growth of 18% yoy. However, for FY18, JIO would be the key factor driving the stock and all eyes will be on its ability to deliver promised results,” analysts at Emkay Global Financial Services said in company update.

“In our view, RIL would continue to be driven by progress of Reliance Jio (RJIO) and subscriber migration into higher tariff plans, and the refining/petchem data points are unlikely to weigh/drive the stock in the near term,” JP Morgan said in recent report.

At 11:30 am; the stock was up 2.8% at Rs 1,408 on BSE against 0.23% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combined 3.34 million shares changed hands on the counter on BSE and NSE so far.

Meanwhile, with the market capitalization (m-cap) of Rs 458,373 crore, RIL stood ahead of technology giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which have m-cap of Rs 456,814 crore, BSE data shows.