Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Friday reported net profit in line with estimates for the three months ended December 31, but most of its key divisions disappointed at the operational level.

The oil-to-telecom behemoth posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 11,640 crore in the third quarter, a growth of 13.5 per cent over Rs 10,251 crore in the year-ago period.

However, revenues fell 1.4 per cent to Rs 1,68,858 crore during the period from Rs 1,71, 300 crore a year ago amid a subdued business environment in refining and petrochemicals.

Analysts were expecting the consumer segments — organised retail and digital services — to make up for the relatively poor performance of the other two divisions.

But digital services yielded a mixed bag of results in the third quarter. Revenue from the division rose 36.2 per cent year-on-year to Rs 17,555 crore, while earnings before interest and tax rose 63.3 per cent to Rs 3,857 crore.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) of Reliance Jio at Rs 128.4 per subscriber per month was ahead of analyst estimates. However, subscriber additions came in as a disappointment. Jio said there was a net addition of 14.8 million subscribers during the third quarter which was lower than the estimates of around 18 million given by brokerages such as Goldman Sachs.

Reliance said the implementation of the interconnect user charges (IUC) led to the elimination of 22 million subscribers, who were mainly voice users.

Among its other divisions, revenues from refining and marketing declined 7.2 per cent over the previous year to Rs 1,03,718 crore, while segment earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) showed a rise of around 12 per cent to Rs 5,657 crore because of better throughput.

However, gross refining margin (GRM) fell short of analyst expectations as it came at $9.2 per barrel against a forecast of around $9.5 per barrel.

Revenues of the petrochemicals segment — which was expected to put up a poor show — decreased 19 per cent over last year to Rs 36,909 crore. RIL said this was due to lower price realisations across product categories. Further, EBIT came at Rs 5,880 crore a drop of 28.5 per cent.

Reliance said margins reached almost bottom levels because of new capacity, inventory overhang and a global demand slowdown.

“The third quarter results for our energy business reflects the weak global economic environment and volatility in energy markets. Within our O2C (oil to chemicals) chain, downstream petrochemicals profitability was impacted by weak margins across products with subdued demand in well-supplied markets,” chairman-cum-managing director Mukesh Ambani said.

“Refining segment performance improved in a difficult operating environment given our continuous focus on cost positions, high operating rates and product placement. I am pleased with the progress of our consumer businesses which continue to establish new milestones every quarter,” Ambani said.

Strong performance

Organised retail continued with its good show as revenues showed a growth of 27 per cent over the same period last year at Rs 45,327 crore, while margins rose to 5.3 per cent from 4.2 per cent. Earnings before interest and depreciation came in at Rs 2,389 crore which was an increase of 58 per cent over the same period last year. Reliance said profit from retail in the first nine months have crossed the profit reported in the last fiscal. Increasing sales productivity, favourable portfolio mix, sourcing benefits and operational efficiencies helped to show higher profit.

Aramco deal

Reliance is unlikely to close the deal for a 20 per cent stake — valued at $15 billion — in its oil to chemicals business to Saudi Aramco by March 31 this year, according to a senior company official.

“It will not be a deal which will get done by March 31. It’s a large transaction, a large cross-border transaction, a complex transaction and so timeline is something we have to be realistic about,” Reliance joint chief financial officer V. Srikanth told reporters here.