Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd met forecasts with a 13 per cent rise in quarterly profit as strong refining margins helped overshadow its sluggish petrochemicals business.
The top petrochemicals maker, which runs a 660,000 barrels-per-day refinery in western India, said net profit rose to Rs 4110 crore ($976 million) in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30 from Rs 3630 crore reported a year earlier.
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Net sales at the company, which has a market value of $77 billion, grew to Rs 43050 crore from Rs 31290 crore. Analysts had forecast a net profit of Rs 4140 crore on net sales of Rs 41870 crore in a Reuters poll.
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Reliance's refining margins for the June quarter were $15.7 a barrel, well above the benchmark Asian Dubai crack margin, which averaged about $8 a barrel in the period.
Shares in Reliance dropped 7.6 per cent in the June quarter, outperforming a 10 per cent fall in the sector index and a 14 per cent decline in the broader market.
