All businesses showed growth over pre-COVID levels with the digital services segment gaining record quarterly business in Q2
Representational image. AFP
Reliance Industries announced Friday a record quarterly consolidated profit of Rs 15,479 crore for the quarter that ended in September 2021, registering a 46 percent increase in comparison to the same period a year ago, driven by all key — retail, digital as well as oil-to-chemical (O2C) segments.
All businesses showed growth over pre-COVID levels with the digital services segment gaining record quarterly business in Q2.
Profit during the same period a year ago Rs 10,602 crore and Rs 13,806 crore in June 2021 quarter. The sequential growth in profit was 12.1 percent.
Consolidated revenue for the quarter came in at Rs 1.74 lakh crore, significantly higher by 49.8 percent compared to Rs 1.16 lakh crore reported in the same period a year ago, said Reliance Industries in its BSE filing, adding the topline growth on a sequential basis was 20.6 percent.
“Reliance has posted a strong performance in Q2FY22. This demonstrates the inherent strengths of our businesses and the robust recovery of the Indian and global economies. All our businesses reflect growth over pre-Covid levels,” said Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited.
He further said the operational and financial performance reflected a sharp recovery in the retail segment and sustained growth in oil-to-chemicals (O2C) and digital services business.
“O2C business benefited from sharp recovery in demand across products and higher transportation fuel margins. Reliance Retail continues to grow on the back of rapid expansion of both physical stores and digital offerings resulting in healthy growth in revenues and margin expansion,” Ambani added.
He said Jio, the digital services business has continued to transform the broadband market in India and has set new benchmarks for the industry.
The standalone profit of the company grew by 44.1 percent to Rs 9,228 crore and gross revenue increased by 68.8 percent to Rs 1.08 lakh crore YoY in Q2.
The operating performance was also strong during the quarter, with record consolidated EBITDA at Rs 30,283 crore for the quarter, growing 30 percent YoY.
Jio Platforms
The telecom business reported quarterly operating revenue of Rs 19,777 crore, a growth of 15.1 percent YoY (adjusted for interconnection usage charge – IUC), driven by continued subscriber traction in the connectivity business, with average revenue per user (ARPU) at Rs 143.6 per subscriber per month which is a healthy 3.7 percent growth over previous quarter.
Jio, which continued to hold top position in 4G coverage and availability, had a customer base of 429.5 million at the end of September 2021, with a net addition of 23.8 million customers.
Its net profit grew by a whopping 23.5 percent YoY to Rs 3,728 crore and EBITDA increased by 16.6 percent to Rs 9,294 crore in the quarter that ended on September 2021.
Reliance Industries has increased its focus on its solar energy segment as it looks forward to establishing and enabling up to 100 GW of solar energy in India by 2030, and becoming a global player in the renewable industry.
“We continue to make steady progress in accelerating foray into new energy and new materials business. Our partnership approach and the desire to bring India to the forefront of global transition to clean and green transition is underscored by recent investments in some of the best companies in theworld in the solar and green energy space,” Ambani said.
“I am now even more confident of achieving the ambitious target of Net Carbon Zero by 2035,” he added.
Recently its subsidiary Reliance New Energy Solar (RNESL) acquired 86,887 series C preferred shares of Germany’s NexWafe GmbH at a price of EUR 287.73 per share for 25 million euros. NexWafe is developing and producing monocrystalline silicon wafers.
Reliance New Energy Solar also decided to acquire 40 percent stake in Sterling & Wilson Solar, which executed 11-plus GW of solar turnkey projects globally, through a combination of primary investment, secondary purchase and open offer. Moreover, it acquired REC Solar Holdings AS, one of the world’s leading solar cells / panels and polysilicon manufacturing company, from China National Bluestar (Group) Co Ltd, for an enterprise value of $771 million.
In the retail segment, subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures through 7-India Convenience Retail entered into a master franchise agreement with 7-Eleven, Inc. for launch of 7-Eleven convenience stores in India.
Reliance Industries became the first listed company to touch the market cap of Rs 18 lakh crore after the recent run-up in share prices that touched a record high of Rs 2,750 on 19 October, especially after signing several deals in the solar energy business. The stock gained 24 percent since the beginning of July to hit a market capitalisation of almost Rs 18.3 lakh crore.
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