RIL consolidated Q1 net hits record Rs9,108 cr as refinery margin swells

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has reported a 28 per cent year-on-year increase in its consolidated net profit to Rs9,108 crore ($1.4 billion) for the April-June 2017-18 quarter), helped by higher margins from its core petrochemicals business.

Stand-alone net profit of the oil-to-telecom group stood at Rs8,196 crore ($1.3 billion) for fiscal first quarter ended 30 June 2017, an 8.6 per cent increase from the net profit of Rs7,548 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Net profit excluding exceptional items stood at Rs8,046 crore

For the quarter ended 30 June 2017, RIL's consolidated revenue stood at Rs90,537 crore ($ 14.0 billion), an increase of 26.7 per cent, compared to Rs71,451 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The increase in revenue, primarily on account of increase in prices and volumes of refining and petrochemical products, was partially offset by lower prices and volumes from E&P business. Revenue was also boosted by robust growth in retail business which recorded a 73.6 per cent increase in revenue to Rs11,571 crore.

Gross refining margin, or profit earned on each barrel of crude processed rose to a nine-year high of $11.9 per barrel in the April-June 2-017-18 quarter, outperforming the benchmark Singapore complex margins by $5.5 per barrel.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, which operates one of the world's biggest refinery complexes, said its standalone revenue for the April-June 2017-18 quarter increased by 18.4 per cent to Rs70,434 crore ($10.9 billion) while profit before depreciation, interest and tax (PBDIT) for the quarter was up 5.1 per cent at Rs13,507 crore.

Cash profit increased by 9.2 per cent to Rs10,627 crore ($1.6 billion) while exports increased by 11.5 per cent to Rs37,111 crore ($5.7 billion).

Commenting on the results, Mukesh D Ambani, chairman and managing director of the company, said: ''Our company recorded yet another strong quarterly performance with net profit of Rs9,108 crore, up 28 per cent Y-o-Y. Our industry leading portfolio of assets in the refining and petrochemicals business contributed to considerable improvement in our earnings for the quarter.

''RIL's retail business also witnessed accelerated growth momentum with YoY revenue growth of 74 per cent.

''Jio has revolutionised the Indian telecom and data consumption landscape. This digital services business has been built to address the entire value chain across the digital services domain with smart applications to make life simple, beautiful and secure.

''Over the last four decades, Reliance has continued to grow and evolve by creating value through building competitive global scale businesses and delivering increasing shareholder returns. Over the past 3-4 years, we made significant investments in new plants, thus creating organic growth platforms for our energy and materials businesses.

''Full commissioning of new PX facility at Jamnagar during the quarter will strengthen the integration within our polyester chain. Ramp-up of ethane import project has helped in diversifying feedstock sources and mitigating risks for our existing crackers at Dahej and Hazira. It is our constant endeavor to deliver world-class product and experience to Indian consumers through our retail and digital services businesses, which we believe are game changing initiatives.''

In April 2017, Reliance entered into a license agreement with Resysta International GmbH (Resysta) which gives RIL exclusive rights of production and marketing of RelWood, a natural fiber polymer composite (NFPC), in India. This compound will be the raw material for the production of sheets and various profiles used in a wide range of wood and plywood replacement applications.

In June 2017, Reliance announced the successful and flawless commissioning of the last crystallization train (Train 3) of the para-xylene (PX) complex at Jamnagar. This plant is built with state-of-the-art crystallisation technology from BP, which is highly energy efficient. With the commissioning of this plant, RIL's PX capacity has more than doubled making it world's second largest producer of PX with about 11 per cent of global production.

In June 2017, Reliance and BP announced that they are moving forward to develop already discovered deepwater gas fields, bringing new gas production.  Further, RIL and BP announced that they will award contracts to progress development of the 'R-Series' deep water gas fields in Block KGD6 off the east coast of India.

In June 2017, Jio, announced the launch of the Asia-Africa-Europe (AAE-1) submarine cable system. AAE-1, the longest 100Gbps technology based submarine system, will stretch over 25,000 km from Marseille, France to Hong Kong, with 21 cable landings across Asia and Europe.