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Reliance Q3 net profit seen jumping 40%
By siliconindia staff writer
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Wednesday, 19 January 2005, 20:30 IST
MUMBAI: India's top petrochemicals firm, Reliance Industries Ltd, is expected to post a 40 per cent jump in quarterly earnings on Friday, driven by record refining margins and higher product prices.
But analysts said a sharp cut in petrochemical prices this month will weigh on the outlook.
The results will be the first since a feud broke out two months ago between chairman Mukesh Ambani and his younger brother Anil over who owns and runs the textiles-to-telecoms group.
The row has dented shares in Reliance Industries, India's largest private sector company by sales.
The stock, which has an 11 per cent weighting on the Bombay benchmark index, rose just three per cent in the December quarter, underperforming the index's 18 per cent gain.
Fiscal third-quarter net profit will jump 39.7 per cent to Rs 19.2 billion ($439 million), according to a Reuters survey of seven analysts.
Gross refining margins began tapering off in December after hitting a record $10 a barrel. Refining contributes about 57 per cent to Reliance's gross turnover, while petrochemicals bring in about 41 per cent.
Net sales are expected to have grown 38 per cent from a year earlier to Rs 174 billion.