RIL shares jump 3% ahead of Q4 earnings

NEW DELHI: Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) jumped nearly 3 per cent in morning trade on Thursday.

The Indian conglomerate is to announce its December-March quarter earnings today post market hours. Market experts expect flattish net profit growth and lower petchem earnings due to weakness in margins.

Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco has evinced interest in buying a minority stake in the company’s refining business.


Media reports suggested RIL is seeking a higher valuation for its refining and petrochemicals business as it considers selling a minority stake to Saudi Arabia’s state energy group, Saudi Aramco.

Brokerage Views
Emkay Global Financial Services projects 3.30 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in profit at Rs 9,767.30 crore on 20 per cent year-on-year jump in net sales at Rs 1,40,263 crore. It also sees 7 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) dip in gross refining margin (GRM) at $8.2 per barrel.

Sharekhan expects RIL earnings to be impacted by weakness in refining margin and appreciation of the rupee partially offset by an improvement in LLDPE (Linear low-density polyethylene) and PVC margins.

Edelweiss Securities says lower refining throughput (down 7% QoQ), GRM (down 9 per cent QoQ), lower PE cracks would lead to lower earnings at refining and petchem segments. However, this will be offset by higher earnings at telecom and retail (over 10 per cent QoQ). Interest costs are expected to remain flat QoQ leading to overall earnings declining by 5.4 per cent QoQ. However, it sees 2.80 per cent rise in core PAT on YoY basis.

Shares of RIL closed 2.79 per cent up at Rs 1,382.90 apiece on BSE.