Energy business powers RIL: Q4 beats Street, outlook positive for stock

Improved performance in consumer biz, its proposed listing remain key triggers

Led by the energy vertical, the country’s largest listed firm by value, Reliance Industries (RIL), beat Street’s estimates for the second consecutive quarter. Even as the operating performance of the retail segment was somewhat below estimates and the telecommunications (telecom) business (Reliance Jio) was broadly in line, it was the 20 per cent sequential growth in the oil-to-chemicals (O2C) space that helped the company offset the miss in the consumer business. The energy vertical accounted for over half of its consolidated operating profit and about three-quarters of the bottom line.

The sequential margin gains in the O2C business were on