Reliance Industries Ltd, India's top private oil refiner and petrochemical maker, beat forecasts with a 58 percent rise in quarterly net profit driven by higher margins in refining and petrochemicals.
"Robust economic growth along with a stable operating environment promises a positive outlook for all our businesses," the company said in a statement. Profit rose from a low base a year ago, when its 660,000 barrels per day refinery, India's largest, was shut down for maintenance for 40 days.
Profit margins on refining, which delivered 67 percent of Reliance's revenues in the July-September quarter, rose to a higher-than-expected $11.7 per barrel from $9.1 a barrel a year ago. Analysts say petrochemicals margins, which rose more than 35 percent in the quarter due to higher product prices and a drop in feedstock prices, were expected to remain firm in the current March quarter.
Reliance, the world's top maker of polyester fibre and yarn, said its net profit rose to 27.99 billion rupees ($632 million) in its fiscal third quarter to end-December from 17.76 billion rupees in the same period a year ago. Ten analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a net profit of 22.31 billion rupees and net sales of 253.4 billion rupees. Turnover rose to 264.7 billion rupees from 181.7 billion a year ago, Reliance said.
During the quarter, Reliance doubled the estimated natural gas output from its field in the Krishna-Godavari basin to 80 million cubic metres a day when it starts production in the second half of the fiscal year to March 2009. Reliance said the share of natural gas in India's energy mix, currently 8 percent, is expected to rise substantially once its availability increases in the energy-starved country.
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