The consolidated net profit of Reliance Industries Ltd, the oil to telecom conglomerate owned by Mukesh Ambani, plunged 37.2 per cent to ₹6,546 crore in the January-March quarter primarily due to disruption in its petrochemicals business following the Covid-19 lockdown. RIL took an exceptional loss of ₹4,267 crore during the quarter due to weak business conditions.
RIL said the Covid-19 outbreak disrupted businesses across manufacturing and services sectors during the quarter. Global oil markets witnessed significant volatility on account of demand destruction and excess supplies. Lockdowns and travel restrictions in most geographies led to a steep fall in transportation fuel demand. The Q4 revenue fell 2.5 per cent to ₹1,51,209 crore from a year ago. The consolidated net profit was ₹10,427 crore on revenue of ₹1,55,151 crore in Q4 of FY19.
The drop in revenue was due to a 10.1 per cent decline in refining and petrochemicals revenues. This business was hit by a sharp fall of 20.5 per cent Y-o-Y in average Brent oil price, resulting in lower product price realisation across the hydrocarbon chain.
Jio profit soars
Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJio) posted a net profit of ₹2,331 crore in Q4 ended March 31, a 177.5 per cent rise from ₹840 crore during the same period a year ago. The company’s Average Revenue Per User rose to ₹130.6 per subscriber per month.
The board has recommended a dividend of ₹6.50 per share.
Rights issue
The RIL board has approved a rights issue of ₹53,125 crore in the ratio of 1:15, priced at ₹1,257 per share. The proposed rights issue, the first by RIL in three decades, will be structured as partly paid shares and will enable shareholders to phase out the outlay on their investment over a period of time. The Promoters will subscribe to their full entitlement of the issue and also to all the unsubscribed portion.
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