RIL-owned firms in focus ahead of 43rd AGM; RIL hits fresh all-time high

Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL)-owned companies engaged in media, broadcasting & cable TV business rallied up to 20 per cent in the intra-day trade on Wednesday, ahead of RIL’s annual general meeting (AGM) due later in the day.

Hathway Cable & Datacom has surged nearly 20 per cent to Rs 49.80, extending its Tuesday’s 20 per cent rally on the BSE. In the last one month, Hathway Cable & Datacom and Hathway Bhawani Cabletel & Datacom have rallied 73 per cent and 28 per cent respectively, while Reliance Industrial Infrastructure surged 46 per cent.

TV18 Broadcast, Network18 Media & Investments, and Den Networks were all up in the range of 12 per cent and 33 per cent on the BSE. In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was up 9 per cent during the same period.

RIL hit a fresh all-time high of Rs 1,948.75, up 2 per cent in intra-day trade, surpassing its previous high of Rs 1,947 touched on July 13, 2020.

Mukesh Ambani-controlled RIL is all set to hold its 43rd AGM on Wednesday, July 15 via videoconferencing or other audio-visual means, given the ongoing crisis posed by Covid-19 pandemic. CLICK TO READ FULL REPORT

The stock of RIL has more-than-doubled from its 52-week low of Rs 867.82 touched on March 23, 2020. A sharp rally in stock price has seen RIL become the first Indian company to cross Rs 12 trillion market captialisation (market-cap). At the time of writing of this report, RIL's market-cap stood at Rs 12.76 trillion, including Rs 44,789 crore market-cap of RIL partly-paid shares.

So far, RIL has raised a record Rs 1.18 trillion in less than three months by selling 25.24 per cent stake in Jio Platforms to 13 marquee investors, including Facebook, Silver Lake, General Atlantic, Intel Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures.

Angel Broking is positive on RIL from a long term perspective as the brokerage firm believes that the digital and retail business will be key growth drivers for the company going forward. The potential listing of the digital and retail business over the next 3-5 years would also lead to significant value unlocking for shareholders in the long run.

“We also expect the hydrocarbon business to recover in the second half of the year as demand for petro products normalises. Given no significant capex outlay in the near future, the hydrocarbon segment should generate free cash flows which can be used to fund expansion in other businesses,” Jyoti Roy, DVP Equity Strategist, Angel Broking said after RIL-Intel deal.

One announcement that all the analysts are looking forward to is the company's clarification on the Saudi Aramco deal. In its last AGM, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani had announced that Saudi Aramco and RIL had signed a letter of intent for a proposed investment in its oil-to-chemical (O2C) division. The deal, he said, was likely to fetch $15 billion (nearly 1.06 trillion) for a 20 per cent stake.