RIL Q3 Surprise! Net Profit up 38%; Refining Margin at 7-Year High

Reliance Industries’ Q3 results beat street estimates; refining business delivers yet another record performance.

Reliance Industries KG-D6’s control and raiser platform is seen off the Bay of Bengal in this undated handout photo. (Photo: Reuters)

• The strong Q3 numbers were driven by higher margins in its core business of crude oil refining.
  
• Both profit and sales surpassed expectations.
  
• Gross refining margins for the reporting quarter was $11.5 a barrel against $7.3 a year ago.
  
• RIL’s telecom unit Reliance Jio is preparing to launch its 4G services in the country, marking Mukesh Ambani’s return to the telecom business after more than a decade.
  

Energy giant Reliance Industries (RIL) on Tuesday reported a record profit for the three months ended 31 December, helped by higher margins in its core business of crude oil refining.

The company controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 7,290 crore for the December quarter, up 38.7 percent from Rs 5,256 crore in the same period a year ago.

Consolidated net sales fell 23.9 percent to Rs 73,341 crore for the December quarter from Rs 96,330 crore in the same period last year.

Profit and sales surpassed expectations. A Bloomberg poll of four brokers had estimated consolidated net profit at Rs.7,100.4 crore and three brokers estimated revenue of Rs.60,686.6 crore for the company that also has interests in crude oil and gas exploration and organised retail.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries. (Photo: PTI)

<p>Our portfolio of world-class refining and petrochemical assets are paying-off handsomely. Refining business delivered yet another record performance on the back of seven-year high refining margins and highest-ever crude throughput. In the current nine-month period, our refining business EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) has surpassed the record earnings it achieved in FY15.</p>

<b>Mukesh Ambani, Chairman &amp; Managing Director, RIL</b>

“The petrochemical business also delivered amongst its best quarterly performance, driven by robust polymer margins. The benefits of low crude oil and energy prices for our downstream businesses clearly outweigh the impact of these factors on our upstream segment, reflecting in the record earnings for the quarter,” he added.

Gross refining margins, or GRM, for the reporting quarter was $11.5 a barrel against $7.3 a year ago. GRM is a measure of the difference between the per-barrel price of crude oil and the value of products distilled from it.

RIL’s telecom unit Reliance Jio Infocomm is preparing to launch its 4G mobile phone services in the country, marking Mukesh Ambani’s return to the telecom business after more than a decade.

Shares of RIL closed 2.5 percent higher at Rs 1,043.60. They hit a low of Rs 1,015.20 and a high of Rs 1,049 during the session.

(With agency inputs)