RIL's profit before tax dips 6%; petroleum retail biz valued at $2.04 bn

Reliance Industries Ltd on Thursday reported a 6 per cent fall in profit before tax at Rs 13,508 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2020 as against a PBT of Rs 14,366 crore reported during the same quarter last year.

The company's net profit, however, rose about 31 per cent to Rs 13,248 crore during April-June 2020 against Rs 10,141 crore in the same quarter last year. Its total income stood at Rs 95,626 crore against Rs 165,199 crore recorded in April-June 2019 indicating improved margins.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic globally and in India is causing significant disturbances and leading to a slowdown of economic activity, the company said in a statement. “The group’s operations and revenue during the current quarter were impacted due to Covid-19. The group has taken into account the possible impact of Covid-19 in preparation of the unaudited consolidated financial results, including its assessment of recoverable value of its assets based on internal and external information up to the date of approval of these unaudited consolidated financial results and current indicators of future economic conditions,” it said.

The company, however, did not disclose any numbers for Covid-19 impact on its business.

Among the exceptional items during the quarter, RIL took on its books Rs 4,966 crore (net of taxes of Rs 1,508 crore) from the sale of 49 per cent equity stake in Reliance BP Mobility Limited to BP Global Investments Limited. The agreement for the petroleum retail marketing arm was signed in December 2019. The aggregate consideration was Rs 7,629 crore based on the enterprise value of $2.04 billion for RBML.

While RIL's earnings before interest and tax for petrochemicals, refining, oil and gas, and retail segments declined, they rose to Rs 4,708 crore for digital services.