RIL Q3 results takeaways: Jio's ARPU misses estimates; retail unit's Ebitda surges, Rs 30k-cr capex, and more

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) reported a 11 per cent jump in December quarter profit on a 3.2 per cent rise in net sales. The Mukeh Ambani flagship said its Ebitda at Rs 44,678 crore jumped 16.7 per cent for the quarter, with Ebitda growth seen across business segments. Here are key takeaways from the RIL earnings:

Reliance Jio ARPU misses estimates

Reliance Industries said Reliance Jio's average revenue for the quarter came in at Rs 181.70 per month, the same as Rs 181.70 in  the September quarter and higher than Rs 178.20 in the same quarter last year. This was lower than Rs 183 ARPU that analysts were expecting ahead of quarterly results. Data traffic jumped to 38.1 billion GB from 36.30 billion GB in September quarter. Brokerages such as BNP Paribas were expecting data volume to rise led by sports events; and rising fixed broadband connections. 

Jio said 5G rollout accelerated the subscriber addition momentum and Jio continued to outpace competition with 11.2 million (or 1.12 crore) net additions in the December quarter. This was largely in line with Street expectations.

Capex@ Rs 30k crore

Reliance Industries said capital expenditure for the quarter ended December 31 stood at Rs 30,102 crore ($ 3.6 billion) with investments in pan-India 5G roll-out, expansion of retail infrastructure and new energy business. This excludes amount incurred towards spectrum and adjusted for capital advances and regrouping of assets.

Record high O&G segment Ebitda

While annoucing its results, RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said the oil & gas segment posted its highest ever quarterly Ebitda. He said KG-D6 is now contributing to 30 per cent of India’s gas production. The O2C segment, Ambani said, delivered resilient performance aided by operational flexibility and strong domestic demand. Staying true to its commitment to sustainability, Reliance has become the first Indian company to chemically recycle pyrolysis oil into circular polymers," he said.

Reliance Retail: 252 store addition stores, footfalls up

Reliance Industries said Reliance Ratail's total stores jumped to 18,774 against 18,650 in September quarter and 17,225 in the year-ago period, up 9 per cent YoY. Store footfall increased to 28.2 crore from 26 crore in Q2 and 20.1 crore in the year-ago quarter. 

"The business expanded its store network with 252 new store openings taking the total store count at the end of the quarter to 18,774 stores with an area of 72.9 million sq ft. The quarter recorded footfalls of over 282 million across formats, a growth of 40.3% Y-o-Y. Digital Commerce and New Commerce businesses continued to grow and contributed to 19 per cent of revenue," it said.

Overall, Reliance Retail delivered gross revenue of Rs 83,063 crore for Q3, up 22.8 per cent YoY,   led by Grocery, Fashion & Lifestyle and Consumer Electronics businesses. The Ebitda for the segment at Rs 6,258 crore was up 31.1 per cent YoY.

O2C Ebitda flattish 

RIL said the segmebt Ebitda rose 1 per cent YoY to Rs 14,064 crore, led by higher gasoline cracks and advantageous feedstock sourcing. This, it said, was partially offset by lower downstream chemical margins and planned maintenance and inspection shutdown.

"Planned maintenance and inspection shutdown of CDU, FCCU, Delayed Coking and ROGC complex impacted yields and profitability. O2C Ebitda would have been higher on YoY and comparable on QoQ basis if all major units were available during the quarter," it said.