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Reliance nine months' sales up 11 per cent at Rs 109 bn, net Rs 13.23 bn

Reliance Industries Limited has posted record sales at the end of nine months ended December 31, 1998 with the figure touching Rs 109.47 billion. The net profit for nine months ended December 31, 1998 amounted to Rs 13.23 billion, the highest in the private sector.

RIL reported a net profit of Rs 4.02 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 1998.

Company's net profit during the quarter ended December 31, 1998 and the first nine months of 1997-98 were Rs 4.35 billion and Rs 12.75 billion respectively.

Sales have gone up by 11 per cent and production by 33 per cent. The operating profit for the same period increased by 16 per cent to Rs 24.72 billion as against Rs 21.28 billion for the corresponding period last year.

The cash profit of RIL increased by 10 per cent to Rs 19.31 billion while the total paid-up equity share capital has remained unchanged at Rs 9.32 billion.

Taxes accounted for Rs 21.95 billion, an increase of eight per cent. Total exports including deemed exports increased to Rs 5.12 billion, almost twice the previous year.

Anil Ambani, managing director of RIL, said, ''Despite the damage caused by an unloading vessel at Hazira petrochemicals complex, sheer determination and swift response by the RIL people have enabled the company to overcome the accident and report another quarter of encouraging financial performance.''

He also informed that the commissioning of Jamnagar complex will further enhance the RIL global competitiveness and will help increase the production volumes by another 50 per cent over the next two years.

RIL stated that the earnings per share for the given period is Rs 14 and cash earnings per share is Rs 20.5 as against the annualised EPS and CEPS of Rs 18.7 and Rs 27.3 respectively.

The company's operations have helped India save a foreign exchange to the tune of Rs 71.72 billion with its exports alone being more than adequate to cover the interest cost on foreign currency debt.

The release further stated the stability of margins was affected by lower feedstock prices, strong volume growth, gain from productivity, cost control and efficiencies, depreciation of the Indian currency, higher degree of integration and value addition.

The unaudited financial results are in accordance with the standard accounting practices followed by the company in preparation of its statutory accounts.

UNI

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