Reliance Industries reports 6.8% rise in net profits in first quarter of FY '19-20

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) on Friday reported a 6.8% rise in its net profit in the first quarter of the financial year 2019-20.

RIL's net profit for the first quarter of the current financial year stood at Rs 10,104 crore, up from Rs 9,459 crore in the corresponding period last year, the company said in a statement to the stock exchanges.

Revenue increased by 22.1% to Rs 172,956 crore from Rs 141,699 crore in the same quarter of the last financial year.

Growth in revenue, RIL said, was led by a sharp increase in revenue from digital services and retail business, which recorded an increase of 55% year-on-year and 48% year-on-year, respectively.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by five% to Rs 22,013 crore from Rs 20,957 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. This increase was led by strong operating performance in the retail and digital services business, the company said.

In this quarter, Reliance Brands Limited (RBL), a subsidiary of the company, completed the acquisition of 100% stake of Hamleys Global Holdings Limited (HGHL), through a special purpose vehicle company set up in the United Kingdom for a cash consideration of GBP 67.96 million.

This acquisition, the company said, will establish RBL as a major player in the global toy retail industry.

Reliance Jio maintained strong momentum in subscriber addition with gross adds of 33.8 million during the quarter. This translated into revenue and EBITDA growth of 44 and 49%, respectively, the conglomerate said.

Moreover, Reliance has entered into an agreement with Brookfield for an investment of Rs 25,215 crore in the Tower Infrastructure Trust.

"This is the single largest foreign investment in an Indian infrastructure vehicle and is a testimony from one of the largest infrastructure players globally, for the quality of assets created by Jio," read RIL's statement.

"Our first-quarter earnings were strong despite the weak global macroeconomic environment and challenging hydrocarbon market conditions," said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, RIL.

"Our downstream businesses delivered resilient performance in an environment of slower demand growth and incremental supplies. The performance reflects the benefits of deep refining and petrochemicals integration, chain economics and feedstock flexibility," he said.

"The company continues to make major strides in its retail and digital services businesses led by a focus on growth markets with offerings in the right product segments and compelling value proposition," said Ambani.
"We are pleased with the robust growth both in revenues and operating income for Reliance Retail. Our digital services business continues to transform the mobility market in India while scaling newer milestones," he added.