Reliance Industries posted a near-flat quarterly profit on Monday, while its revenue grew 11% to £24 bn, benefiting from the strength of its oil & gas and oil-to-chemical (O2C) businesses as well as its fast-growing retail and digital services (Jio) businesses. Profit stood at £2.12 bn in Q4 FY24.
Operating profit, a yardstick for underlying business performance, increased about 12% to £4.50 bn. Expenses climbed 11% to £22 bn. For the entire fiscal 2024, RIL’s profit grew 7% to £7.90 bn and revenue increased marginally by nearly 3% to £91 bn.
“It is heartening to note that all segments have posted robust financial and operating performance. This has helped the company achieve multiple milestones. I am happy to share that this year, Reliance became the first Indian company to cross the £10 bn threshold in pre-tax profits,” said chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani.
Operating profit of digital (Jio) climbed 9% to £1.46 bn due to strong revenue growth. However, Jio’s average revenue per user (ARPU) - a key metric that influences income - was at Rs 182 in Q4 FY24, up just about 2%. ARPU is the total revenue of the telecom operator divided by the number of users on its net work. Launched in 2016, Jio has about 482 million customers as of March 31, 2024 and saw data and voice traffic growth of 35% and 10% on its network.
Operating profit of the retail business jumped 18% to £582.9 mn, led by growth in consumer electronics and fashion & lifestyle verticals. Reliance Retail has 18,836 outlets as of March 31, 2024.
Operating profit of oil & gas shot up by 47% to £560.6 mn on account of higher volumes partly offset by lower price realization from the KG D6 Field.
