RIL Q3 net profit almost flat at Rs5,511 crore

Reliance Industries Ltd, the country's largest refiner and petrochemical company, today reported a net profit of Rs5,511 crore ($0.9 billion) for the third quarter of the 2013-14 financial year (October-December 2013-13), a marginal 0.2 per cent increase from Rs5,502 crore reported in the comparable period a year ago.

At Rs5,511 crore RIL's net profit in the third quarter of the current fiscal was marginally higher than Rs5,490 crore in the previous quarter, the company stated in a release.

Revenues for the quarter increased by 10.5 per cent to Rs106,383 crore ($17.2 billion), from Rs96,307 crore in the third quarter of 2012-13.

RIL's exports increased by 11.3 per cent to Rs74,495 crore ($12.1 billion).

Profit before depreciation, interest and taxes (PBDIT) decreased by 1.8 per cent to Rs9,927 crore ($1.6 billion) while profit before tax increased by 2.1 per cent to Rs6,992 crore ($ 1.1 billion) and cash profit was down 3.3 per cent to Rs7,676 crore ($1.2 billion).

RIL said its gross refining margin for the quarter stood lower at $7.6 per barrel.

For the nine month period ended 31 December 2013, RIL saw a 6.1 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit at Rs16,353 crore ($2.6 billion).

Gross revenue for the April-December period of the 2014-14 financial year rose 6.7 per cent to Rs303,495 crore ($49.1 billion).

Exports for the period increased by 16.4 per cent to Rs208,950 crore ($33.8 billion).

Gross refining margin for the nine-month period stood at $7.8 per barrel.

''Reliance's robust refining configuration enabled it to deliver stable refining profits in 3Q FY14, against the backdrop of declining regional benchmark margins. Even as we invest to further strengthen our energy businesses, this quarter demonstrates the outstanding quality of our refining and petrochemical business resources and their ability to deliver creditable performance in a period marked by cyclicality and uncertainties,'' Mukesh D Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries Limited, said.

''We are happy to announce the commissioning of our new polyester facility in Silvassa, the first amongst a series of projects that underpin RIL's industry-leading competitive position. Our retail business continues on its rapid growth trajectory with 38 per cent revenue growth during the quarter.''

RIL said one positive development is the higher prices for domestically produced natural gas notified by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas.

The new pricing guidelines are applicable for all domestically-produced gas, including conventional, shale, coal bed methane (CBM) effective 1 April 2014.

In August 2013, RIL and its partner BP announced a new gas condensate discovery off the east coast of India in the Cauvery basin.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, also entered into a comprehensive telecom infrastructure sharing arrangement with Bharti Airtel Limited, under which they will share infrastructure, including optic fibre network, submarine cable networks, towers and internet broadband services and other infrastructure created by both parties.

RJIL holds a Unified License for all 22 service areas across India and is the first telecom operator in the country to get pan India Unified Licence.

Neanwhile, RIL said, Standard & Poor's raised the long-term corporate credit rating on Reliance to 'BBB+' from 'BBB', one of the highest ratings by S&P for an Indian corporate and the highest rating by S&P for an Indian oil and gas company.

''The new rating, which is two notches above the S&P rating for the Indian sovereign, is testament to Reliance's strong financial and business profile,'' it added.

Furthermore, Reliance is the only Asian company in the oil & gas sector to be rated two notches above the sovereign by S&P.

With this upgrade, Reliance is now rated higher than some of its global emerging market peers demonstrating the strength and competitive position of Reliance in the refining and petrochemicals sector. The rating also underpins Reliance's position as a leading large scale, integrated and efficient oil refining and petrochemicals company, it added.