RIL posts biggest quarterly profit in 8 years at Rs 7,398 crore

Reliance Industries on Friday 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. 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 US $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 US $10.1 per barrel a year ago. The GRM outperformed Singapore benchmark by US $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 was, however, down 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 high-speed broadband services will be launched this year. But he did not give a specific date. "The commercial roll-out of Jio services this year will digitally enable a billion Indians and propel growth for India and Reliance," he said.

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.

The company's retail business saw 17.5% cent rise in PBDIT at Rs 235 crore in Q4 of 2015-16 fiscal. Reliance Retail added 624 stores, taking the total number to 3,245 across 532 cities. 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 corresponding period of the previous year due to higher average exchange rates. "FY 2015-16 has been a year of outstanding achievement for our downstream hydrocarbon businesses, notwithstanding persisting global economic uncertainty. Refining and petrochemicals delivered record operating and financial performances. Our refineries sustained double-digit GRMs and record levels of utilization through the year," Ambani said.

Balanced petrochemical portfolio, across products and feedstocks, helped capture the benefit of vastly improved naphtha cracking economics and favourable polymer markets.

Reliance Retail continued its path of profitable expansion while maintaining a robust revenue growth of 23% during the year. "Looking ahead, we are focused on ensuring a flawless startup and stabilization of the new growth platforms across our hydrocarbon and consumer businesses.

RIL shares fell 0.2% to Rs 1,038.95 at the close in BSE before the earnings were announced.