Reliance Industries (RIL) is likely to retain its tag of India’s most profitable firm when it announces its fourth quarter results on Friday with 13 of 20 brokerage houses predicting its Q4 net profit to surpass the Rs 7,000 crore-mark.
The energy-to-retail conglomerate has already posted profits of Rs 20,097 crore for the nine months ended December 2015, and another Rs 7,000 crore will take its FY16 profit beyond Rs 27,000 crore, surpassing TCS’s profits (Rs 24,292 crore). TCS, in the third quarter in FY15, had overtaken RIL for the first time in 23 years, with a net profit of Rs 5,388 crore against RIL’s Rs 5,085 crore.
However, RIL has since bounced back into the lead, reporting profits of Rs 6,318 crore in the June quarter, Rs 6,561 crore in the September quarter and Rs 7,218 crore in the December quarter.
The average net profit estimate of Rs 7,022 crore for the January-March 2016 quarter is 12.5 per cent higher year-on-year as compared to the year-ago net profit of Rs 6,381 crore. RIL’s net profit estimate ranges from Rs 6,481 crore by Citi to Rs 7,405 crore by Elara Capital.
The brokerages expect RIL’s average YOY profit growth to be in double digits on the back of superior refining margins and improvement in the petrochemicals segment.
RIL’s gross refining margins for the January-March 2016 quarter is expected to be between $10.2 and $11.3 with 15 brokerage houses’ average working out to $10.8 per barrel.
RIL shares on BSE closed marginally down at Rs 1,061.75 on Monday, valuing the company at Rs 3,44,047 crore while TCS shared closed almost flat at Rs 2,522.4, making it India’s most-valued firm with a market capitalisation of Rs 4,97,020 crore.
