Telecom and retail units boost RIL’s Q1 profit: 7 key highlights

Mumbai: Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) on Friday reported 6.82 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated profit at Rs 10,104 crore for the quarter ended June 30. Analysts in an ET NOW poll had projected a profit of Rs 9,550 crore.

The company’s revenue increased by 21.25 per cent to Rs 1.61 lakh crore in the June quarter from Rs 1.33 lakh crore in the year.

Here are the key highlights from the company’s June quarter earnings:

Refining and marketing business
Revenue for the June quarter from the segment increased by 6.4 per cent YoY to Rs 101,721 crore, while segment EBIT declined 15.2 percent to Rs 4,508 crore.

“Higher volumes have contributed to increased revenue, however, R&M performance was impacted by significantly lower product cracks,” RIL said in the release.

Healthy margins
The company maintained a significant premium over Singapore Gross refining margins (GRMs), for the June quarter at $ 8.1 per barrel, outperforming Singapore complex margins by $4.6.

Telecom Business
The company’s telecom arm Reliance Jio reported profit for the seventh quarter in a row. For the June quarter, the firm reported a profit of Rs 891 crore, up 45.6 per cent from year ago. There was strong momentum continuing in the subscriber additions with gross additions of 33.8 million.

Despite the larger consumer base across tariff plans, customer engagement improved with higher data usage of 11.4 GB per user per month. VoLTE voice consumption per subscriber came in at 821 minutes per month. Average revenue per user ( ARPU) came in at Rs 122.

Exploration and production business
Revenue for the segment decreased 35.5 per cent to Rs 923 crore. Segment EBIT came in at a loss of Rs 249 crore against a loss of Rs 447 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. The segment performance continued to be impacted by declining volume

Retail Business
Segment revenue grew 47.5 per cent to Rs 38,196 crore. Segment Ebitda grew 69.9 per cent to Rs 2,049 crore on a yearly basis. Reliance Retail operated 10,644 stores across over 6,700 towns and cities, with an area of 23 million square feet.

Rapid store expansion particularly in Tier III or Tier IV markets, stronger value proposition and catchment focused assortment have been key drivers for robust growth in retail business.

Management speak
“Our first quarter earnings were strong despite weak global macroeconomic environment and challenging hydrocarbon market conditions. The company continues to make major strides in its retail and digital services businesses led by focus on growth markets with offerings in the right product segments and compelling value proposition. We are pleased with the robust growth both in revenues and operating income for Reliance Retail. Our digital services business continues to transform the mobility market in India while scaling newer milestones,” said CMD, Mukesh Ambani.

Debt and cash in hand
Outstanding debt as on June 30 was Rs 2,88,243 crore compared with Rs 2,87,505 crore as on March 31. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of June 30 were at Rs 1,31,710 crore compared with Rs 1,33,027 crore as on March 31. These were in bank deposits, mutual funds, CDs, government bonds and other marketable securities.