Reliance Q2 net up 39 percent

Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has reported a 38.7-per cent jump in its second quarter net profit to Rs1,752 crore as against Rs1,263 crore last year.

RIL's net sales for the quarter ended September 30, 2004, were up 27 per cent at Rs16,164 crore from Rs12,693 crore in the previous corresponding quarter. The total expenditure increased to Rs12,994 crore (Rs10,231 crore).

Anil Ambani, vice-chairman and managing director, RIL, said that the company's net profit for the period would have crossed Rs2,000 crore had it not been for the high interest costs. The interest cost rose by a stiff 87 per cent to Rs434 crore from Rs232 crore as the company' foreign borrowings were marked to the market.

The revenues from petrochemicals sales jumped 26 per cent to Rs9,425 crore (Rs7,498 crore), while refining income was up 27 per cent to Rs12,980 crore (Rs10,233 crore). RIL's second quarter gross refining margins were up to $8 per barrel compared to $5 a barrel last year. In the first quarter, RIL's refining margins were $7 per barrel.

RIL's net profit for the six months ended September 30, 2004 was Rs3,189 crore (Rs2,367 crore). Net turnover rose to Rs30,444 crore (Rs25,194 crore). Referring to the proposed Iran-India gas pipeline via Pakistan, he said the Myanmar pipeline also made sense, but the question was who needed all this gas with the three LNG terminals and the enhanced levels of natural gas production within the country.