Reliance reports a 46% increase in profit in Q1 FY23, fueled by its oil business’ strongest quarter ever

• Oil-to-data giant Reliance Industries today reported a 46% increase in its net profit thanks to boiling crude oil prices.
  
• This allowed the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate’s oil business to post its best quarter ever – the oil business contributed ₹7 out of every ₹10 earned by India’s most valuable company.
  
• Reliance’s retail business also pitched in with a healthy revenue growth, while the telecom business reported a modest growth.
  

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries today reported 46% yearly increase in its net profit thanks to strong performance of its refining and retail segments, while its telecom business Jio reported a modest 5% sequential growth.

Reliance’s O2C business reported its strongest quarter ever with a revenue of ₹1,61,715 crore, which is nearly 72% of RIL’s total revenue. In other words, the O2C business contributed ₹7 for every ₹10 Reliance Industries earned in the last three months.

The Indian conglomerate, in its press statement, noted that O2C’s segment revenue largely grew due to higher crude oil and product prices. “Benchmark Brent crude average price was up 65% Y-o-Y to $ 113.9/bbl [barrel of crude oil],” Reliance Industries said.



Reliance even credited the EU embargo on Russian oil to its strong performance. “The EU embargo on Russian oil products, higher gas to oil switching, strong travel demand and lower product inventory levels resulted in tight fuel markets,” the company said in its exchange filing.

“This along with resurgent demand has resulted in tighter fuel markets and improved product margins. Despite significant challenges posed by the tight crude markets and higher energy and freight costs, O2C business has delivered its best performance ever,” Mukesh Ambani, chairperson and MD of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), said.

However, higher finance costs have put the lid on some of this growth – the company noted that a falling rupee and rising interest rates have increased its finance costs by 17.7% year-on-year – something that a previous Business Insider India report highlighted could soon become a problem for high-debt companies.

Retail business beats the inflation blues, but profit declines

Reliance Retail once again crossed a gross revenue of ₹58,000 crore in this quarter as well. However, its net profit declined for the second time this year, with high input costs weighing it down.

Its revenue increased by ₹537 crore in the April-June quarter, while its net profit declined by ₹78 crore to ₹2,061 crore. This is the second sequential fall in net profit – the retail giant reported a similar decline in the March quarter as well, despite a marginal increase in revenue.

The retail giant’s revenue increased nearly 52% compared to the April-June quarter of last year, whereas profits nearly doubled.

Jio reports modest growth after a stellar March quarter

The company’s telecom arm, Reliance Jio posted a modest 5% sequential increase in its net profit after a stellar March quarter. The largest telco in India did manage to add 10 million new subscribers to its network, which has likely saved its profit from declining.

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