India’s largest conglomerate, Reliance Industries, reported its Q4 results, revealing its highest quarterly profit of Rs 21,327 crores.
For the quarter that ended in March 2023, the company’s revenues stood at 239,082 crores, up 2.8% annually, while EBITDA was Rs 41,389 crores, growing 21.8% YoY. According to the company, the growth in revenues was driven by consumer businesses, while the surge in EBITDA was on account of strong operational performance. Profit for the quarter was Rs 21,327 up 18.3% annually, and 20% sequentially as higher financing and depreciation costs were offset by the lower deferred taxes.
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For the period of 12 months that ended in March 2023, the company logged revenues of Rs 976,524 crores, up 23.2% YoY due to high energy prices and growth in the Retail segment. EBITDA saw a growth of 23% during the year as the company had a strong contribution from all its segments. Profit for the year was Rs 74,088 crores, growing 14% YoY despite the high taxes, finance costs, and depreciation.
For its Digital Services segment, the company reported a 20.2% growth in revenues as the same reached Rs 98,099 crores. The company’s subscriber base grew to 439.3 million while its ARPU was Rs 178.8. Jio had the fastest 5G rollout globally as it had 60,000 sites deployed with >350K 5G cells as 5G is expected to drive growth in the future.
The conglomerate’s Retail segment’s revenues surged 30% YoY to Rs 260,364 crores while the segment’s EBITDA margins improved by 140 bps with profits growing 30% to Rs 9,181 crores. Grocery Fashion & Lifestyle drove growth as customer footfall improved by 41%, while digital growth grew by 17%.
The oil & Gas segment saw the greatest growth in revenues on account of higher production and surging gas prices. Revenues grew 2.2x times while EBITDA grew by 2.5x times as the company had its highest domestic production in 10 years. Global markets are expected to stay volatile, while the Indian market outlook is optimistic.
Lastly, the company’s Oil to Chemicals (O2C) segment benefited from strong demand, global and domestic, as the company logged its highest sales of Polymers, Elastomers and PET during the year. Revenues of the segment grew 19% to 594,649 crores, while EBITDA margins declined due to lower margins on Polymers.
The company also disclosed its Capex figures which grew to Rs 141,809 crores in FY23. The Capex incurred by the company during the year aimed to gain more market share in its consumer segments: Jio and Retail. Jio made systematic 5G investments as it deployed >125K 5G BTS in over 2,300 cities and has estimated a pan-India coverage by December 2023. Retail opened 3,300 new stores and added more than 12 million sp. ft. in warehousing space.
The company said it funded 98% of its capex through cash profits as its Net Debt to EBITDA remained below 1x. The company also had an exceptional gain of Rs 2,836 crores from the sale of a shale gas asset, excluding which the company had a 9.2% annual growth in profits.
The shares of Reliance Industries closed at Rs 2,349 per share on Friday.
- Aman Agarwal
