The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
MUMBAI, JANUARY 21, 2022
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) on Friday reported record financial performance for the quarter ended 31st December 2021 with all its businesses posting robust growth. The company reported its highest ever consolidated net profit of Rs 20,539 crore and EBITDA of Rs 33,886 crore, with the revenues touching all time high of Rs 209,823 crore. While the O2C and E&P businesses were the biggest contributors to the incremental growth, both the Jio and Retail businesses posted robust growth and their best ever quarterly numbers.
Reliance’s O2C business, which traditionally contributed the largest chunk to the company’s overall profits, showed a remarkable recovery with EBITDA growing 38.7% Y-o-Y to Rs 13,530 crore ($1.8 billion)primarily on account of better transportation fuel cracks, higher polyester chain delta and higher output.
The E&P business too made its mark with EBITDA scaling a new high of Rs 2,033 crore on significant improvement in output and improved pricing. The production during the Dec ’21 quarter stood at53.3 billion cubic feet equivalent (BCFe), up 87% Y-o-Y, while the average KGD6 natural gas price was up 74% from year ago period.
The digital services business under Jio Platforms Limited, too, rose to its best performance ever during the Dec ’21 quarter with EBITDA at Rs 10,008 crore, up18.1% Y-o-Y. This was enabled by a sharp 500+ bps improvement in EBITDA margins on higher subscriber base and improvement in ARPU.
Jio closed the quarter with a subscriber base of421 million– a gain of over 10 million in the preceding12-month period. The monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) rose to a 16-quarter peak of Rs 151.6,led by better subscriber mix and the 20% tariff hike effective 1st December 2021.
Jio’s customer engagement continued to improve with average data and voice consumption per user per month increased to 18.4 GB and 901 minutes, up 42.6% and 13.2% respectively. Jio also reported a 5 million customer base for wireline broadband under JioFiber, which is growing rapidly.
Jio continues to make progress on 5G trials with 5G coverage planning completed for almost 1,000 top cities across the country. The company is now testing advanced use cases across Healthcare and Industrial Automation on its 5G network.
Reliance Retail posted its highest ever revenues during the December 2021 quarter, as COVID blues vanished and operating environment returned to normalcy. All consumption baskets recorded best ever revenues driven by highest ever store sales and sustained growth momentum in digital & new commerce.
Reliance Retail’s gross revenue grew 52.5% Y-o-Y to Rs 57,714 crore for the Dec ’21 quarter, while the EBITDA jumped23.8% Y-o-Y to Rs 3,822 crore.
Reliance Retail continued to expand its footprint and added 837 stores taking the total count to 14,412 stores and 40 million sq. ft. of retail space. In addition to the physical retail infrastructure, the company also strengthened its digital presence. The company reported a four-fold Y-o-Y jump in merchant partners on its New Commerce platform, while the orders on digital commerce platform doubled with Tier-2 or smaller cities representing over 50% of digital commerce orders.
Reliance exited shale gas business during the quarter by selling its remaining interests, which resulted in an exceptional gain of Rs 2,872 crore included in net profit.
Commenting on the Q3FY22 results Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited, “I am happy to announce that Reliance has posted yet another quarter of stellar performance in 3Q FY22. We have delivered record operational results with strong contribution from all our businesses.”
“Our digital services business has delivered broad based, sustainable, and profitable growth through improved customer engagement and subscriber mix,” he said.
“Retail business activity has normalized with strong growth in key consumption baskets on the back of festive season and as lockdowns eased across the country,” he added.
“We are making steady progress towards achieving our vision of Net Carbon Zero by 2035. Our recent partnerships and investments in technology leaders in the solar and green energy space is illustrative of our commitment to partner India and the World in the transition to clean and green energy. We continue to pursue growth initiatives and collaborate with global leaders who share our vision of co-developing a more sustainable future for our planet,” said Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited.
“Our Oil & Gas segment has achieved a remarkable turnaround, with volume growth and improved realization,” he said.
