Driven by stronger gross refining margins, India's largest company by market capitalisation posted a net profit of Rs 3,912 crore for the quarter ended March 2008. Net turnover rose 32.1 per cent to Rs 38,697 crore, while the operating profit increased 17.9 per cent to Rs 6,308 crore.
For the full year ended March 2008, net profit grew 62.9 per cent to Rs 19,458 crore, boosted by a one time gain of Rs 4,733 crore from transactions relating to Reliance Petroleum shares.
Operating profit rose 17.9 per cent to Rs 24,201 crore and revenue went up 17.6 per cent to Rs 139,269 crore. The RIL stock ended the day 0.2 per cent higher at Rs 2,642.15 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Refining margins improved to $15.5 per barrel in the fourth quarter from $13 a year ago due to efficiencies in sourcing crude oil and production of globally accepted transportation fuels.
However, its domestic marketing margins remained under pressure due to high crude oil prices without any corresponding improvement in domestic selling prices.
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The refining and marketing margins dipped to 9.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007-08 from 10.8 per cent in the year ago quarter.
RIL's refining business grew 36.4 per cent to Rs 28,686 crore from Rs 21,025 crore in the same period last year. The Jamnagar refinery processed 31.8 million tonnes of crude with an average utilisation rate of 96.4 per cent more than the average utilisation of 86 per cent.
The company's petrochemicals business benefited from strong demand from the downstream user segment, higher production and firm prices across the value chain registering a growth rate of 12.36 per cent from Rs 12,572 crore in the fourth quarter last year to Rs 14,119 crore this quarter.
The oil and gas business grew 51 per cent from Rs 548 crore to Rs 828 crore and other businesses consisting of retail and SEZs grew 202.6 per cent from Rs 113 crore to Rs 342 crore this quarter.
During the year, RIL incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 19,503 crore. The capital expenditure was largely for the oil and gas business. The company has also completed 90 per cent of the implementation of its complex refinery, coming up in an SEZ at Jamnagar.
The company had also signed a memorandum of understanding with GAIL (India) Ltd to explore opportunities to set up petrochemical plants outside India.