Reliance reports record quarterly net of Rs 9,459 cr

Reliance Industries on Friday reported a record Rs 9,459 crore net profit in April-June on the back of near doubling of earnings from mainstay petrochemical business.

Net profit of Rs 9,459 crore, or Rs 16 per share, in the first quarter of 2018-19 fiscal, was up 18% over Rs 8,021 crore, or Rs 13.5 a share, net profit in the same period a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Revenue was up 56.5% at Rs 141,699 crore.

The April-June 2017 profit has been taken after excluding Rs 1,087 crore exceptional income from sale of stake in Gulf Africa Petroleum Corp.

Reliance said pre-tax profit from petrochemical business was up 94.9 per cent to Rs 7,857 crore on better margins.

Its Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said, "Our petrochemicals business generated record EBITDA with strong volumes and an upswing in polyester chain margins. Refining business performance remained steady despite the seasonal weakness in cracks."

While retail business revenues have more than doubled and EBITDA has trebled, telecom arm Jio added a record number of subscribers, he added.

Meanwhile company's telecom arm, Reliance Jio said that its standalone net profit has increased 19.9% to Rs 612 crore for the three month period ended on June 30, 2018, as against the preceding quarter.

The company had registered a net profit of Rs 510 crore in the January-March 2018, Reliance Jio said in a statement.

Its revenue from operations came in at Rs 8,109 crore in the June quarter, up nearly 14% from the fourth quarter of FY'18.

The subscriber base stood at 215.3 million as on June 30, 2018, the Reliance Industries group firm said.

"Jio continues on its path to drive digital revolution in India. We doubled our customer base and most user metrics in the last 12 months. 215 million customers within 22 months of start is a record that no technology company has been able to achieve anywhere in the world," Ambani said.

He added that the "continued strength in financial results of Jio despite competitive intensity reinforces the customer uptake of its services and its strong operating leverage"