Reliance Industries reported a consolidated net profit of ₹17,445 crore in the first quarter of FY25, down 4.5 per cent on year hit by weak refining margins while revenue rose 11.5 per cent to ₹2.6-lakh crore, led by higher oil and product prices and steady growth in its consumer facing segments.
The company reported an EBITDA of ₹42,748 crore — up 2 per cent on year while EBITDA margin shrank 150 basis points to 16.6 per cent, mainly due to a steep fall in gasoline cracks.
It ended the quarter with an outstanding debt of over ₹3-lakh crore down from the ₹3.2-lakh crore year ago. The capital expenditure was ₹28,785 crore.
“Consolidated EBITDA for the quarter improved from a year ago with strong contribution from consumer and upstream businesses offsetting weak O2C operating environment,” said Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani.
“Reliance’s resilient operating and financial performance in this quarter underscores the strength of its diverse portfolio of businesses. Importantly, these businesses are contributing significantly to India’s growth, providing vital energy and vibrant channels for digital and physical distribution of goods and services,” he added.
The company said it has made significant progress on the implementation of new energy giga-factories that are coming up in Gujarat.
Oils to Chemicals
The O2C business, which contributes bulk of the revenues, reported an 18 per cent rise in revenue at ₹1.57-lakh crore on higher oil and product prices. But, EBITDA was lower by 14.3 per cent due to lower gasoline cracks and downstream deltas. The operating margin also fell 320 bps to 8.3 per cent.
“The deep integration and flexibility built into our O2C business model helped mitigate the impact of challenging operating environment. The business was impacted by lower fuel cracks with tepid global demand and ramp-up of new refineries. The oil and gas segment continued its growth trajectory with higher production, offsetting lower year-on-year gas price realisations,” said Ambani.
Jio Platforms
The digital services business under Jio Platforms reported a 11.7 per cent annual rise in net profit at ₹5,693 crore, while revenue from operations rose 12.8 per cent to ₹29,449 crore. Sequentially, the net profit and revenue were up 2 per cent.
The growth in revenue in Jio was driven by subscriber additions while the double digit EBITDA growth, on an annual basis, came from the higher revenues and operating leverage.
The monthly average revenue per subscriber, an important metric in the sector, increased marginally on year to ₹181.70, while it was flat sequentially. It ended the quarter with a customer base of 489.7 million having added 8 million users in the quarter.
Reliance Retail
The retail segment, hit by elections and the heatwave across the country, reported a flat profit growth at ₹2,453 crore; while revenue rose a modest 6.6 per cent to ₹66,260 crore.
EBITDA was 10.5 per cent higher at ₹5,664 crore, while margin was 30 bps higher at 8.5 per cent, though it was down sequentially.
The company opened 331 stores in the quarter taking the total count to 18,918 outlets with a total area of 81.3 million sq ft.
The business continued investments in stores, platform enhancements, product design and sourcing capabilities to further strengthen the value proposition to the customers, the company said.
During the quarter, it entered into a long-term licensing arrangement with ASOS, UK’s leading online fashion retailer, to exclusively retail ASOS’s curated portfolio of fashion-led own brand labels across all online and offline channels in India.