Reliance Industries Q3 Results: RIL Q3 profit jumps 11.88% led by robust telecom biz, retail growth and resilient O2C business

Reliance Industries decreased its net debt by Rs 973 crore to Rs 115,465 crore in December 2024 as against Rs 116,438 crore in September 2024. RIL said that robust cash flows support growth initiatives. It also announced its capex at Rs 32,259 crore ($ 3.8 billion).

Reliance BP Mobility Limited (RBML) (operating under brand Jio-bp) said that it operates a country-wide network of 1,865 outlets at the end of the third quarter vs 1,698 in Q3FY24. RBML quarterly sales for HSD and MS grew at 22.8% / 43.7% on YoY basis as against industry sales volume growth rate of 3.2% / 9.6%.

RBML recorded the highest monthly sales and supported the India aviation story with a sales growth of 51.4% for the quarter vs industry growth of 8.9% on YoY basis.

Under Jio-bp Pulse, RBML has grown the network to 5,500 live charging points at 580 unique sites.

Under Clean N Green, RBML has expanded the CBG network to 32 sites retailing Bio-CNG manufactured at RIL’s digestors. RBML is also ramping up its network of CNG outlets.

RIL’s Oil To Chemicals (O2C) segment posted Q3 revenue at Rs 149,595 crore ($ 17.5 billion), posting a growth of 6.0 per cent YoY, primarily on account of higher production meant for sale as compared to Q3FY24 which had planned maintenance and inspection shutdown of major units. Revenue growth was also supported by robust domestic demand and product placement, it said. Domestic fuel retailing volume increased significantly with 43.7 per cent growth in MS and 22.8 per cent growth in HSD.

The business recorded EBITDA for the period at Rs 14,402 crore ($ 1.7 billion), up 2.4 per cent on-year, following a strong volume-led growth and higher polymer deltas. RIL’s feedstock flexibility, benefits of ethane cracking over naphtha and focus on yield optimization helped offset the impact of unfavorable fuel cracks, it said.

Isha M Ambani, Executive Director, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, said, “Reliance Retail delivered strong performance during the quarter led by festive buying across consumption baskets. Our focus on offering a wide range of products at an attractive price value proposition continues to draw customers to our stores and digital platforms. We are creating through JioMart – express deliveries, scheduled deliveries coupled with Milkbasket - subscription services, a seamless shopping experience that serves diverse customers across all categories and catchment.”

RIL’s retail business subsidiary, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) posted revenue for the third quarter of FY25 at Rs 90,333 crore, posting a growth of 8.8 per cent on-year. The quarterly EBITDA stood at Rs 6,828 crore, up 9.5 per cent YoY. EBITDA margin was at 8.6 per cent, up 20 bps YoY. In a statement, the company said, “Strong sequential growth was driven by several productivity improvement initiatives and increased customer engagement during the festive period through new product launches and promotions.”

Reacting on Jio’s Q3 performance, Mukesh D Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited, said, “Robust growth in digital services business was led by sustained subscriber addition and consistent improvement in customer engagement metrics. This was well supported by a favorable subscriber mix, with an increasing number of users upgrading to 5G networks. Jio’s compelling offering of home broadband services also continued to rapidly gain ground and maintain its pre-eminent market position. It gives me immense joy to see Jio grow and support the expanding technology capabilities of new India. Teams at Jio continue to enhance its offerings, in line with the constantly evolving technology landscape to bring the best-in-class digital experience to all.”

RIL’s Jio Platforms Limited (JPL) posted Q3 revenue at Rs 38,750 crore, up 19.2% YoY and EBITDA for the quarter came in at Rs 16,585 crore, posting a growth of 18.8% YoY. Jio recorded a total subscriber base at around 482 million as of Dec 2024, posting a growth of 2.4% YoY. Jio said that the ARPU increased further to Rs 203.3 with sustained impact of tariff hike and better subscriber mix. Residual impact of tariff hike still to play out, it added. In Q3FY25, Jio recorded ~2 million new connects. It also said that JioAirFiber recorded a subscriber base of ~4.5 million. Net subscriber addition in Q3FY25 was 3.3 million and monthly churn moderated to 2.0%, it said.

Mukesh D Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited, said, “The previous month commemorated the 25th anniversary of our Jamnagar refinery. It gives me great pleasure to see Reliance grow exponentially over the years and set new benchmarks that demonstrate the inherent strength and resilience we have across all our businesses. The delivery of record EBITDA and PAT at a consolidated level for this quarter is a testament to this.”

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has been, for the past three consecutive quarters, reporting declining profits. In the September and June quarters of FY25, the conglomerate had posted a profit drop of 5 per cent each on a YoY basis, while in the last quarter of FY24, the bottomline dropped 2 per cent YoY.

Reliance Industries will present its fiscal third quarter earnings today late evening. In a statement, while announcing that a detailed presentation by its senior leadership on Q3FY25 financial and operational performance of the firm will commence today, the company said, “This would begin ~2000 hours IST today (Thursday, 16th January 2025), post conclusion of our Board meeting and intimation to the Stock Exchanges.”

During the fiscal second quarter, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited posted revenue at Rs 76,302 crore, down 1.1 per cent on-year. It had said that the growth was impacted by weak Fashion and Lifestyle (F&L) demand, continued focus on streamlining of operations and calibrated approach to B2B business to improve margins. The business vertical posted EBITDA at Rs 5,850 crore. RIL’s retail business opened 464 new stores, taking the total store count to 18,946. The quarter recorded footfalls of over 297 million, up 14 per cent YoY.

RIL had, in its fiscal second quarter earnings report, said that the capital expenditure for Q2FY25, ending June 30, 2024, stood at Rs 34,022 crore ($4.1 billion).

Goldman Sachs said that Reliance Industries’ retail business is expected to post a likely pick up in YoY sales growth trend on urban consumption recovery Q3FY25E expectations. “We expect 5 per cent YoY sales growth for Reliance Retail (including connectivity). We expect flattish YoY sales growth (vs. high single digit YoY decline in Q2FY25) for Reliance Retail (excluding connectivity),” it said.

Further, the brokerage firm said that Reliance Retail’s sales growth in FY25 is expected to be more dependent on SSSG rather than store growth (unlike FY24, where the growth was primarily driven by store growth). However, in H1FY25, it said, the macro backdrop was not supportive of SSSG growth.

“We have seen improvement in trends across discretionary consumption companies in our coverage e.g. sales growth accelerating for Avenue (D-Mart), SSSG trend improving for QSRs and improvement in LFL growth for jewellery players. Hence, we expect improvement in the YoY sales growth trend for Reliance Retail,” Goldman Sachs said.