The company reported a 9.3% year-on-year (YoY) growth in consolidated net profit to Rs 17,265 crore, beating the estimate of Rs 16,944 crore.
Consolidated revenue from operations grew 3.6% YoY to Rs 2.28 lakh crore, but was a tad lower than the estimated Rs 2.36 lakh crore.
Sequentially, the bottom line declined 0.7% and the topline fell nearly 3%, primarily due to the weakness in the oil-to-chemicals business.
Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA grew nearly 17% YoY to Rs 44,678 crore, led by growth across all business segments. Operating margin expanded 210 basis points YoY and 50 bps sequentially to 18%.
Capex/Cash Balance
At the consolidated level, capital expenditure for the quarter was Rs 30,102 crore, compared to Rs 38,815 crore a quarter earlier.
Cash and cash equivalents as of December-end was Rs 1.92 lakh crore, compared to Rs 1.78 lakh crore a quarter ago.
Debt Rises
RIL’s outstanding debt at the consolidated level was Rs 3.12 lakh crore as of December-end, compared with Rs 2.96 lakh crore a quarter ago, and Rs 3.03 lakh crore a year ago.
The net debt-to-EBITDA was 0.67 times as of December- end, compared to 0.66 times a quarter ago.
Strong digital ops
Jio Platforms reported an over 11% YoY growth in both revenue and EBITDA to Rs 32,510 crore and Rs 13,955 crore, respectively. Net profit increased by nearly 6% to Rs 5,445 crore.
The average revenue per user or ARPU remained flat sequentially at Rs 181.7, but improved from Rs 178.2 a year ago.
The customer base increased to 470.9 million as of December-end, from 459.7 million as of September-end.
Steady Retail Show
Reliance Retail reported 23% YoY growth in consolidated revenue to Rs 83,063 crore, which was the highest ever revenue in a quarter. Growth was led by grocery, fashion & lifestyle and consumer electronics businesses.
EBITDA increased 31% YoY to a record Rs 6,258 crore, margin improved 40 bps to 8.1%, driven by operating leverage and continued focus on cost management.
The business expanded its store network with 252 new store openings, taking the total store count at the end of the quarter to 18,774.
Weak O2C
The only business that failed to perform and was a drag on the overall earnings of RIL was the O2C. This segment constituted 62% of the consolidated revenue of the conglomerate in the quarter.
Revenue from this segment declined 2.4% YoY to Rs 1.41 lakh crore, primarily on account of lower price realisation, led by 5.3% YoY decline in average brent crude oil prices.
Exports, which have a fairly large share in the overall revenue from the segment, declined nearly 5% YoY to Rs 74,617 crore in the quarter.
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