Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday posted a mixed set of numbers in the second quarter, with the retail and telecom segments putting up a decent show even as the oil-to-chemical (O2C) business disappointed analysts.

Consolidated net profits attributable to owners rose 27.40 per cent for the quarter ended September 30 to Rs 17,394 crore compared with Rs 13,656 crore a year ago. Though the net profit attributable to owners beat some estimates, it fell short of the consensus forecasts of Rs 17,850.9 crore by Bloomberg analysts.

Profit for the period rose 29.7 per cent to Rs 19,878 crore from Rs 15,512 crore a year ago.

The O2C business, which accounts for the largest pie of Reliance’s topline, saw its revenues decline 7.3 per cent to Rs 147,988 crore from Rs 159,671 crore a year ago. RIL attributed the fall to a sharp reduction in crude oil prices of 14 per cent.

However, the 36 per cent increase in segment EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortisation) to Rs 16,281 crore from Rs 11,968 crore was a positive factor.

The EBITDA margin also showed an improvement of 350 basis points to 11 per cent, though it was lower by 50 basis points on a sequential basis.

RIL said the EBITDA was higher because of the strength in gasoline and PVC margins, optimised feedstock sourcing and lower SAED (special additional excise duty) following the decline in the price of middle-distillate cracks such as diesel and kerosene.

Jio score

The standalone net profit of telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd rose 12 per cent to Rs 5,058 crore from Rs 4,518 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.
Revenues increased to Rs 24,750 crore from Rs 22,521 crore, in line with the estimates of analysts.

Average revenue per user (ARPU), a key indicator of the company’s performance, rose 2.5 per cent to Rs 181.7 from Rs 177.2 a year ago. Average revenue per user stood at Rs 180.5 in the first quarter.

The higher ARPUs were driven by a better subscriber mix across mobility and wireline. Net subscriber addition of 11.1 million during the quarter was the highest in the industry.

Consequently, Jio Platforms, which encompasses the digital services and telecom business, saw revenues rising nearly 11 per cent to Rs 26,875 crore from Rs 24,275 crore.

Segment EBITDA showed a growth of 12.6 per cent at Rs 13,528 crore, while EBITDA margins rose 80 basis points.

Retail show

The retail business reported the highest growth in revenues — rising 19.5 per cent to Rs 68,937 crore from Rs 57,694 crore a year ago. EBITDA of Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd jumped 32.2 per cent to Rs 5,820 crore, while its net profit rose 21 per cent to Rs 2,790 crore from Rs 2,305 crore last year.

The outstanding debt of RIL fell to Rs 295,687 crore from Rs 318,685 crore in the preceding three months. Cash and cash equivalents were at Rs 177,960 crore against Rs 192,064 crore in Q1.

Scions on board

The shareholders of RIL have approved the appointment of Isha, Akash and Anant Ambani, the three children of Mukesh Ambani, to the board of Reliance Industries.

The entry of the siblings to the board is in line with a succession plan at Reliance that kicked off in June 2022.

Chairman Mukesh Ambani had resigned from the board of telecom arm Reliance Jio, while Akash Ambani was promoted as the executive chairman of the telecom arm.

The results of the postal ballot showed that while twins Akash and Isha, 32, secured more than 98 per cent of the votes, Anant got 92.7 per cent of the votes. Some of the proxy advisory firms had recommended against voting for Anant Ambani because of his young age.