REL net up 42.5% in Jan-Mar

Reliance Energy has posted a 42.52 per cent increase in its net profit for the quarter ended March 31 to Rs 147.93 crore, against Rs 103.79 crore in the same quarter of the previous year. The earnings per share at the end of the March 2005 quarter stood at Rs 7.97 compared with Rs 6.64 at the end of March 2004.

During the quarter, the total income increased by 81.38 per cent to Rs 1,589.94 crore from Rs 876.56 crore in the same quarter last year.

The growth in income can be attributed mainly to a near 370 per cent rise in income from engineering, procurement and construction and other contracts to Rs 812.34 crore during this quarter.

Leena Shrivastava, a director on the Reliance Energy board, said that the company's proposed 3,740 megawatt gas-based power plant at Dadri, which entailed an investment of Rs 11,000 crore, had come up for "slight revision".

She, however, did not divulge further details. Reliance Energy's net profit for the year ended March 31, 2005 increased by 30.07 per cent to Rs 520.29 crore from Rs 374.12 crore.

Total income increased from Rs 3582.70 crore to Rs 4592.55 crore, marking a 28.18 per cent growth.

Income from the EPC and contract division was Rs 1,234.68 crore in 2004-05. The division had an order book position of about Rs 3,500 crore as on March 31, 2005, as against Rs 1,200 crore at the end of the previous year, an increase of 192 per cent. Earnings per share for the financial year ended March 31, 2005 was at Rs 28.06 as against Rs 25.86 at the end of the accounting year 2003-2004.

The Reliance Energy board has approved payment of quarterly dividend of Rs 1.40 per share, amounting to a payout of Rs 30 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005.

Including this, the total dividend for the financial year ended March 31 2005 is Rs 4.70 per share, amounting to a payout of Rs 99 crore. The face value of Reliance Energy share is Rs 10.