Oil-to-telecom major Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Friday reported its highest-ever quarterly consolidated net profit at Rs 11,640 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, up by 13.5 percent from the year-ago period.

In the corresponding quarter last year, the company posted a net profit of

Rs 10,251 crore. CNBC-TV18 Polls had predicted a profit of Rs 11,333 crore for the quarter under review.

Revenue

However, RIL's consolidated revenue for the third quarter dipped 1.4 percent to Rs 168,858 crore from Rs 171,300 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

GRM

It earned $9.2 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel as compared to a gross refining margin (GRM) of $8.8 per barrel in the October-December 2018. The GRM was, however, lower than $9.4 per barrel earned in July-September 2019.

PAT

Profit after tax was higher by 13.5 percent at Rs 11,640 crore ($ 1.6 billion) as against Rs 10,251 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

EPS

Basic earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter ended December 31, 2019 was Rs 18.4 as against Rs 17.3 in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Debt

Outstanding debt as on December 31, 2019 was Rs 306,851 crore ($43.0 billion) compared to Rs 287,505 crore as on March 31, 2019.

Cash Equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents as on December 31, 2019, were at Rs 153,719 crore ($ 21.5 billion) compared to Rs 133,027 crore as on March 31, 2019.

The capital expenditure for the quarter ended December 31, 2019, was Rs 14,015 crore ($ 2.0 billion) including exchange rate difference.

Exports

Exports (including deemed exports) from RIL’s India operations were lower by 13.7 percent at Rs 53,804 crore ($ 7.5 billion) as against Rs 62,378 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year due to lower price realization from petrochemical and refining business.

Other expenditure increased by 1.2 percent to Rs 21,202 crore ($ 3.0 billion) as against Rs 20,957 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year primarily due to higher network operating and regulatory & access charges.

Consumer businesses, which till last year accounted for a quarter of the company's pre-tax profit, contributed a third of EDITDA in the third quarter. Retail business EBITDA rose 58 percent to Rs 2,389 crore while telecom arm Jio posted a net profit of Rs 1,350 crore.

Segment EBITDA increased by 4.7 percent to Rs 23,500 crore ($ 3.3 billion) from Rs 22,449 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. The increase in Segment EBITDA was led by strong performance in retail (62.3 percent), digital services (43.5 percent) and refining (11.7 percent) businesses.

Retail Busines

With its retail store strength rising to 11,316 from 10,901 at the end of the second quarter, the retail business posted a 58 per cent jump in pre-tax profit to Rs 2,389 crore and a 27 per cent rise in revenue at Rs 45,327 crore.

Retail is growing faster than every other player, expanding across geographies, formats and verticals. Over 176 million customers walked into its stores, 42.6 per cent more than last year, as it now has over 26.3 million square feet of retail space spread across nearly 7,000 towns.

Telecom Busines

Reliance Jio, the group's telecom arm, posted a standalone net profit of Rs 1,350 crore, which was 62.5 per cent more than the previous year, as subscriber base swelled to 370 million.

Earning per subscriber rose to 128.4 per month from Rs 120 in the previous quarter. This is the first reversal as earning per subscriber had been on a decline since the first quarter of 2018-19 when it clocked Rs 134.3.

Jio crossed Rs 5,600 crore quarterly EBITDA for the first time and saw a 40 per cent data traffic growth and 30 per cent voice growth year on year, the company said.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, RIL said, "The third-quarter results for our energy business reflects the weak global economic environment and volatility in energy markets. Within our O2C chain, downstream petrochemicals profitability was impacted by weak margins across products with subdued demand in well-supplied markets. Refining segment performance improved in a difficult operating environment given our continuous focus on cost positions, high operating rates and product placement."

Shares of RIL ended at Rs 1,581.35, up by Rs 43.65, or 2.84 percent on the BSE.

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First Published:Jan 17, 2020 6:47 PM IST