Reliance Industries Shares Edge Lower After September Quarter Earnings

Shares of Reliance Industries edged lower after it announced September quarter earnings post market hours on Friday. Reliance Industries share price fell as much as 2.17 per cent to hit an intraday low of Rs 2,570.10 on the BSE. The billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led oil-to-telecom conglomerate - Reliance Industries - reported consolidated net profit of Rs 13,680 crore marking an increase of 43 per cent on a year-on-year basis. Its revenue from operations jumped 50 per cent annually to Rs 1.74 lakh crore compared with Rs 1.16 lakh crore during the same period last year. The better-than-expected September quarter earnings by the country's most valued company came on the back of higher demand of oil products.

Reliance Industries earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) also known as the operating profit came in Rs 30,283, up almost 30 per cent.

Its oil-to-chemicals (O2C) segment's revenue rose 58 per cent to Rs 1,20,475 crore benefitting from sharp recovery in demand across products, increase in oil prices, and higher transportation fuel margins.

The company's telecom arm - Reliance Jio's net profit in the July-September period stood at Rs 3,728 crore, compared to Rs 3,019 crore in the corresponding period last year, marking a growth of 24 per cent year-on-year, according to the stock exchange filing by Reliance Industries.

Jio's average revenue per user (ARPU), a key metric to evaluate the performance of a telecom company, improved to Rs 143.6 per user per month from Rs 138.4 in the preceding April-June quarter.

During the quarter, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), a subsidiary of the Company acquired on preferential basis 21,177,636 Equity Shares of Rs 10 each fully paid-up, representing 25.35 per cent of the post preferential equity share capital of Just Dial Limited, aggregating Rs 2,165 crore.

All key operating segment contributed positively to earnings growth, Reliance Industries said in a statement.

As of 11:40 am, Reliance Industries shares traded 0.46 per cent lower at Rs 2,615, underperforming the Sensex which was up 0.2 per cent.