Reliance Q1 net jumps 28%
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the country?s largest private sector company, on Saturday beat market apprehension to announce a net profit of Rs 3,264 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 28.2% higher compared with Rs 2,547 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The company attributed this performance to high refining and petrochem margins at its complex refinery at Jamnagar. Turnover for the quarter was up 12.7% at Rs 29,493 crore compared with Rs 26,166 crore in the first quarter of the last fiscal.
Gross refining margins for the quarter stood at $15.4/bbl against $12.4/bbl in the year-ago period. This was higher than the benchmark Singapore margins which were $9.5/bbl. ?The quarter witnessed high refinery utilisation rates in the backdrop of strong demand for transportation products and global shortage of refining capacity,? the company said. RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani said, ?Our world-class manufacturing facilities have demonstrated a high operating leverage by delivering superior margins and record profits.? The stock markets were closed on Saturday, but on Friday, the RIL stock was down 3.84% to close at Rs 1,866.45 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
According to a Mumbai-based analyst, ?RIL?s refinery has maintained its reliable operations to take advantage of the opportunities in the hydrocarbon sector.? In refining and marketing, the company?s EBIT margin increased to 11.2% during the quarter compared with 9.8% in the same period in last year. The refinery processed 8.01 million tonne of crude and posted an average utilisation of 97%. The company exported refined products worth $3.2 billion, which accounted for 62.9% of production volumes. However, domestic marketing margins continued to be under pressure, ?due to lack of a level-playing field for private sector marketing companies,? RIL said.