New Delhi: Reliance Industries Monday reported its fourth consecutive drop in quarterly net profit, hurt by weak demand and lower natural gas output, but sequentially its earnings rebounded.
RIL, the nation's largest listed company by market value, said its July-September net profit at Rs 5,376 crore, fell 5.7 percent from Rs 5,703 crore in the previous year.
The number either met market estimates or were better. Sequentially net profit was up 20 percent from Rs 4,473 crore in the first quarter. Also, profits before tax were up 25 percent on a sequential basis at Rs 6,803 crore.
RIL's sales rose 15 percent to Rs 90,335 crore.
Its oil and gas business saw revenues drop 36.7 percent to Rs 2,254 crore on back of a steep drop in oil and gas production from eastern offshore KG-D6 block.
RIL said oil production from KG-D6 block dropped 37 percent to 1.7 million barrels in first half of current fiscal and natural gas by 35.1 percent to 197 billion cubic feet.
"This reduction was due to reservoir complexity and natural decline."
It did not give production numbers for second quarter.
The company, which operates the world's biggest refining complex, said it earned USD 9.5 per turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in the second quarter as compared to a gross refining margin of USD 10.1 per barrel a year earlier.
The margins were better than USD 7.6 in the June quarter. Segment revenue was up 23.1 percent to Rs 83,878 crore as the twin refineries processed a record 17.6 million tonnes of crude the September quarter.
Hit by cyclical slowdown in petrochemical business, RIL saw its earnings before interest and tax dropped 28.2 percent to Rs 1,740 crore. RIL's other income, most of it through treasury gains, rose 92 percent to Rs 2,112 crore and accounted for 31 percent of its quarterly pre-tax profit.
At the end of September, the company had cash and cash equivalents of Rs 79,159 crore. Ahead of results, RIL shares closed 0.5 percent up on the BSE at Rs 823.05.
PTI
