Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries reported a 12.5 per cent jump in its September quarter net profit after refining margin soared to nine year high and mobile telephony venture earned operational profit.Net profit in July-September at Rs 8,109 crore, or Rs 13.7 per share, was higher than Rs 7,209 crore, or Rs 12.2 a share, in the same period of last fiscal, the company said in a statement.
The company earned USD 12 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in Q2, up from USD 10.1 a barrel gross refining margin in same quarter of previous year and USD 11.9 a barrel in first quarter of the current fiscal.
A year after re-entry into telecom business, Reliance said it earned operating profit of Rs 260 crore with 1.53 crore subscribers being added in Q2 to take the total to 13.86 crore.
Total revenue was up 23.9 per cent to Rs 1,01,169 crore.
Commenting on the results, RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said robust performance in the quarter is helped by “the financial performance of Reliance Jio which had a positive EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) contribution in its first quarter of commercial operations”.
Also, refining and petrochemicals businesses did well.
“Sustained demand growth coupled with supply disruptions further tightened demand-supply balances globally during the quarter. The benefits of optimising our business through new projects are beginning to emerge. The structural strength in energy and materials business environment augurs well for our new capacities which are coming on-line this year,” he said.
Ambani, who created a flutter in the telecom sector with his free voice and dirt cheap data offering together with almost-free handset, said strong financial results of Jio demonstrate the robust business model and the significant efficiencies that the Company has built through its investment in the latest 4G technology and right business strategy.
Pre-tax profit from the mainstay refining sector was up 10.8 per cent at Rs 6,621 crore year-on-year but it fell 11.4 per cent when compared to Q1 earnings.
Petrochemical business saw per-tax profit jump 45.2 per cent to Rs 4,960 crore due higher volumes in the polyester chain and firm prices.
Start of gas production from coal seams (CBM) helped trim loss from oil and gas business to Rs 272 crore from Rs 491 crore in July-September of 2016.
However, pre-tax profit more than doubled to Rs 334 crore.
The company’s debt swelled to Rs 2,14,145 crore at the end of September as compared to Rs 1,96,601 crore as on March 31, 2017. Cash in hand was marginally lower at Rs 77,014 crore.