Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries (RIL) reported an increase of 1.7% in consolidated net profit for second quarter of financial year 2015 to Rs 59.72 billion. Analysts on average had predicted net profit of Rs 59.57 billion. Cash profit increased by 4.9% to Rs 92.50 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2014 as compared to Rs 1.5 billion in the same period last year.
Net sales for the quarter went down 4.3% Rs 1,133.96 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2014 over prior year period. "Lower crude prices and volumes mainly in the refining and oil & gas business accounted for decrease in revenue," the company said.
Cost of raw materials was lower by 12.9% from Rs 939.33 billion to Rs 818.15 billion (USD 13.2 billion) on Y-o-Y basis mainly on weaker crude oil prices, lower crude processed in refinery and lower blending and trading activity in USA during 2Q FY15.
Reliance reported gross refining margin (GRM) of USD 8.3 a barrel during second quarter compared with USD 7.7 a barrel for the same period last year.
Cash and cash equivalents as on Sep. 30, 2014 were at Rs 834.56 billion ($ 13.5 billion). These were in bank deposits, mutual funds, CDs and Government securities / bonds, it said.
Commenting on the results, Mukesh D. Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries, said, ''RIL's financial performance for the period stands testimony to the intrinsic strength of our integrated business operations. The refining and petrochemical businesses, once again, delivered robust results, outperforming regional industry benchmarks. Renewed optimism in the domestic economy augurs well for business and consumer confidence particularly against the backdrop of continuing concerns on global economic growth. We expect to create significant value for our stakeholders over the next 12-18 months as we complete our large investment programme across energy and consumer businesses. These projects will propel the next phase of growth for India and Reliance.''
The net addition to fixed assets for the half year ended Sep. 30, 2014 was Rs 448.95 crore (USD 7.3 billion) including exchange rate difference capitalization. Capital expenditure was principally on account of ongoing expansions projects in the petrochemicals and refining business at Jamnagar, Dahej and Hazira, Broad band Access and US Shale gas projects.
Shares of the company declined Rs 2.45, or 0.26%, to settle at Rs 957.85. The total volume of shares traded was 337,956 at the BSE (Monday).