RIL net up 6.8 per cent; retail, telecom boost profit

Mumbai: Reliance Industries on Friday reported a 6.8 per cent rise in net profit for the first quarter (Q1) driven by robust performance by its consumer businesses of retail and telecom, countering the weakness in traditional petrochemical and refining business.

The Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate reported a net profit of Rs 10,104 crore, or Rs 17.05 per share, in April-June, up from Rs 9,459 crore, or Rs 15.9 a share, in the same quarter of the previous financial year, RIL said in a release.

While the profit rose year-on-year, it was lower than the highest ever earning of Rs 10,362 crore in the preceding January-March period.

Standalone net profit of Rs 9,036 crore, up 2.4 per cent over the previous year, was a record. RIL clocked a record consolidated revenue of Rs 1,72,956 crore in Q1.

Commenting on the results, Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, said: "Our first-quarter earnings were strong despite the weak global macroeconomic environment and challenging hydrocarbon market conditions."

The company opened more retail stores and added 24.6 million subscribers to its Jio mobile phone service that helped raise the profitability of the venture as its traditional oil refining and petrochemical business witnessed margin pressures.

RIL reported record pre-tax profit from its retail and telecom businesses. The two now account for nearly 32 per cent of Ebitda, up from close to 25 per cent previously.

Adding 229 new stores to take the total strength to 10,644, the retail business posted a 70 per cent jump in pre-tax profit to Rs 2,049 crore and a 47.5 per cent rise in revenue to Rs 38,196 crore.

Reliance Jio posted a standalone net profit of Rs 891 crore, which was 45.6 per cent more than the previous year, as the subscriber base swelled to 331.2 million from 306.7 million in March.

Earning per subscriber, however, declined to Rs 122 a month from Rs 126.2 in Q4. Earning per subscriber has been on a decline since the first quarter of 2018-19 when it clocked Rs 134.3.

Retail is growing faster than every other player, expanding across geographies, formats and verticals. It now has over 23 million square feet of retail space spread across more than 6,700 towns.

The petchem business saw pre-tax profits drop 4.4 per cent to Rs 7,508 crore.

Pre-tax earnings from the petchem business declined for the fifth quarter in a row. Pre-tax earnings fell 15.2 per cent to Rs 4,508 crore as margins dipped.

It earned $8.1 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel compared to a gross refining margin (GRM) of $10.5 per barrel in Q12018. The GRM was lower than $8.2 in Q42018.