Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India?s largest company in the private sector, on Monday said its net profit for the fiscal ended March 2008 stood at Rs 19,458 crore, an increase of 63% compared with Rs 11,943 crore in 2007.
However, this included exceptional gains of Rs 4,733 crore in FY08, made from transactions concerning shares of subsidiary Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL). RIL sold 4.01% of its stake in RPL last November. Excluding this, net profit for the fiscal increased 28% to Rs 15,261 crore in FY08, compared with Rs 11,943 crore in FY07.
A 36% increase in revenues from the refining & marketing segment, added to high refining margins, fuelled this growth. The company registered refining margins of $15 a barrel in FY08, compared with just $11.7 a barrel in FY07. Refining margins this fiscal was significantly higher than the $7.6-a-barrel mark registered by the Singapore benchmark index. However, RIL?s raw material consumption increased to Rs 91,446 crore during the fiscal, compared with Rs 77,769 crore in FY07.
RIL also posted a turnover of Rs 1,39,269 crore for fiscal 2008, an 18% increase compared with Rs 1,18,354 crore in FY07. The company registered an EPS (excluding exceptional items) of Rs 105 during the fiscal under review, compared with Rs 82.2 in FY07.
The company posted a net profit of Rs 3,912 crore in the fourth quarter of FY08, 24% more than Rs 3,156 crore in Q4 FY07. Total revenues for the quarter stood at Rs 38,697 crore, up 32% compared with Rs 29,276 crore in Q4 FY07.
The results came after market hours on Monday. RIL stock was marginally up 0.2% on the BSE to close at Rs 2,642.15 on Monday, compared with the previous close of Rs 2,636.95 last Thursday. Markets were closed on Friday.
According to Amitabh Chakraborty, president (equity), Religare, ?Despite rising crude oil prices, RIL?s refining complexities helped the company maintain its gross refinery margins.?
In the year ended March 31, 2008, the company?s Jamnagar refinery processed 31.8 mt of crude oil and achieved an operating rate of 96.4%. Production of petrochemicals grew 5% to 19.6 mt, against 18.7 mt the previous year. The company lost Rs 44 crore on derivatives y-o-y and posted gains of Rs 968 crore as transaction benefits.
