Reliance Industries reported its highest ever quarterly consolidated net profit at ₹6,381 crore for the March quarter, hitting the billion-dollar mark, rising 8.5 per cent over the corresponding period last fiscal.
Although revenue during the quarter fell over 33 per cent to ₹70,863 crore, the company’s gross refining margins improved, in line with expectations, to $10.1 a barrel for the quarter and $8.6 a barrel for the whole year.
More importantly, RIL results are a major recovery from the third quarter of FY-15, when refining margins (the difference between the input price of crude oil and selling price of refined products) slumped to $7.3 a barrel.
A considerably less volatile fourth quarter allowed RIL profits to rise 21.4 per cent over Q3 figures. Despite slow consumption growth and challenging macroeconomic environment, fourth quarter revenue for Reliance Retail grew 31.1 per cent to ₹4,788 crore. EPS for the March quarter stood at ₹21.7 against ₹20 a year go.
The oil and gas company declared 100 per cent dividend payout, ₹10 for every share of face value of ₹10. Total dividend payout will be ₹3,559 crore.
For the whole year, RIL’s net income from operations was ₹3,75,435 crore, down over 13 per cent from ₹4,34,460 crore in FY-14. Net profit rose 4.8 per cent through the year, to ₹23,566 crore from ₹22,493 crore.
For the quarter, revenue from the refining and marketing business fell over 41 per cent to ₹56,442 crore over the corresponding quarter.
Revenues from the petrochemicals division also fell 18 per cent over the same period to ₹21,754 crore, although production rose from 5.3 million tonnes to 5.6 mt in Q4FY-15. Revenue from the retail division rose 31 per cent to ₹4,788 crore.
Gaurang Shah, Vice-President, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, doesn’t expect any major follow-up buying on Monday of RIL stock.
“Besides the refining business, the other divisions have disappointed. Reliance Jio is only sucking up money and the petrochemical business appears to be under pressure. With the revised gas prices being lower than expected, there does not seem to be any incentive to increase KG-D6 production.”
Shares of RIL closed 0.06 per cent lower on the BSE on Friday, at ₹926.85.