Reliance Industries declares Q4 results, net profit up 24 percent

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Boosted by strong refining margins, RIL said it net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, rose to Rs.3912 crore ($978 million), from Rs.3156 crore ($789 million) a year earlier, a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 23.95 percent.

While net profit or profit after tax (PAT) (including exceptional item) for the full year rose 63 percent to Rs.19,458 crore ($4.86 billion) as against Rs.11,943 crore ($2.98 billion), turnover for the year rose 18 percent to Rs.1,39,269 crore ($34.81 billion). Increase in revenue was due to 12 percent increase in prices and a 6 percent growth in volumes, the company said in a statement.

Revenue for the fourth quarter rose to Rs.38,697 crore ($9.67 billion) from Rs.29,276 crore ($7.32 billion), a YoY growth of 32.18 percent, the refiner said in a regulatory filing.

Earning per share (EPS) for the fiscal year 2008 was Rs.105 against Rs.82.2 for the previous year, a YoY growth of 27.73 percent.

The company has announced a dividend payout of 130 percent or a total of Rs.1860 crore (Rs.13 per share on par value of Rs.10 per share).

"This was a landmark year for Reliance as we delivered record financial and operating performance in challenging and volatile market conditions," Mukesh Ambani, chairman, RIL, said in a statement.

"Our key investments in oil and gas development and refining are expected to commission this year. I expect them to be key drivers to deliver earnings growth in the near future," he said.

The refining margin of Reliance at $ 15 for fiscal year 2008 is more than double the benchmark Asian Dubai (Singapore) crack margin which was about $7.6 a barrel.

This is because the company's 660,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in the western Indian state of Gujarat can process cheaper, high-sulphur crude oil, bolstering its margins.

"Margins for complex refineries continue to remain strong, supported by tightened product markets, strong margins for light products and unplanned outages by large refiners," the statement said.

"RIL's refinery margins are significantly influenced by efficiency in several major parameters, such as [1] Efficiency in sourcing of crude oil [2] Ability to produce globally accepted transportation fuels [3] Flexibility of crude oil receipt, product slate and product evacuation infrastructure," it said.

"The complex configuration of RIL's refinery gives it the ability to process heavy and sour crude oil. Furthermore, several new crude discoveries are in the "challenged" category and require unique technical capabilities for processing. These factors continue to support high levels of light-heavy differential and provide a unique advantage to RIL's refinery. The superior configuration at the Jamnagar refinery allowed RIL the flexibility to focus on the production of middle distillate products (Gasoil and Jet / Kerosene) where margins remained firm with strong global demand. With these fuels making up ~50 percent of overall slate, RIL refinery is strongly leveraged to the current uptrend. The middle distillate crack spreads have increased. Also refining margins have increased due to higher realization from coke and sulphur. During the year, fuel oil saw continuing discounts to crude during the year," the statement said.

"While worldwide refinery outages have led to spikes in margins, RIL has maintained its high operating rate to take advantage of these opportunities. Efficiencies in energy consumption, ability to swing production and quality, adaptability to accept different crude blends, flexible operating parameters, blending management and several other factors all add up to RIL's superior gross refining margin (GRM)," it added.

The petrochemicals and refinery giant is expected to report better earnings during the current fiscal year after it begins to pump gas from its deep-sea fields off the east coast.

To capture the growth opportunity in the aviation turbine fuel (ATF) business, the company has also established its presence at 14 airports in India and is now refueling major airlines.

Reliance, which is valued at more than $96 billion, hopes to become the largest oil refiner in the world and has spent over $5.6 billion on a 580,000 bpd refinery project in Jamnagar, near an existing 660,000 bpd refinery owned by the company.

Once commissioned in 2008, the complex will become the world's biggest refinery.

Reliance is India's first and only private sector company to feature in the Fortune Global 500 list of 'World's Largest Corporations' since 2004 and ranks amongst the world's top 200 companies in terms of profits. RIL also emerged in the world's 10 most respected energy/chemicals companies and amongst the top 50 companies that create the most value for their shareholders in a global survey and research conducted by PricewaterCoopers (PwC) and Financial Times (FT) in 2004. RIL also features in the Forbes Global list of world's 400 best companies and in FT Global 500 list of world's largest companies.

($1 million = Rs.4 crore)