Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), on Friday, reported a 24 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs.5,502 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012 as compared to Rs.4,440 crore in the same quarter last year due to higher yields from its petroleum refining and petrochemicals business.
During the period, the company’s turnover increased by 10 per cent to Rs.96,307 crore from Rs.87,480 crore.
For the nine months, the company’s net profit plunged by 2.5 per cent to Rs.15,414 crore from Rs.15,804 reported during the same period in the previous year, though the sales turnover grew by 13 per cent to Rs.2.85 lakh crore from Rs.2.52 lakh crore in the same months of the previous year.
“RIL’s performance has improved in this (third) quarter with margin expansion in petrochemicals and record earnings in the refining business,” said Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, RIL.
“We are investing over Rs.100,000 crore by expanding our petrochemical capacities and adding value to our refining business. These investments will secure a significant change in RIL’s earning capacity on commissioning of these projects. It will also provide employment opportunity for thousands of young Indians and support India’s economic growth”, he added.
RIL posted an average gross refining margin of $9.6 a barrel for the quarter, compared to $6.8 a barrel in the same period last year, the company said.
“The results are good. It is basically a re-assuring kind of situation from RIL. Their gross refining margin is even better than that of Singapore. This was possible due to RIL’s ability to process heavy crude. Besides this, they have got better margins from diesel and aviation turbine fuel. The prospect of the petrochemicals business is also looking good. The outlook on the company is getting better,” said Deven Choksey, Managing Director, KR Choksey Share and Securities.
Shares of RIL closed with a gain of 1.05 per cent at Rs.898.95 on the BSE on Friday.