Mumbai: Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) shed more than 3% on Monday morning despite reporting a record March quarter net profit, as analysts argued the valuations could be turning rich in light of uncertainties in earnings, and as the subdued performance by Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd bothered investors.
Revenue at the energy-to-telecom conglomerate rose 39% year-on-year to Rs1.29 trillion, buoyed by a rise in petrochemical sales and increase in global crude prices leading to better realizations in refined products.
The performance of the telecom arm, Reliance Jio, remained subdued with the company posting a mere 1% growth in net profit on a sequential basis as the ongoing tariff war, which Jio triggered, brought down its average revenue per user to Rs137 in the March quarter from Rs154 a quarter earlier.
At 10am, RIL shares were down 3.19% at Rs963.05 a piece on the BSE, while benchmark 30-share Sensex traded 0.47% higher at 35,132.74 points. In intraday trade, the stock hit a low of Rs961.10, down 3.38%.
RIL stock is up 10.3% so far in April, after positing 33.84% gains in fiscal year 2018, the best since fiscal year 2010. It touched a record high of Rs1,010.70 on 27 April 2018, and is down 3.6% since then.
Jefferies India Pvt. Ltd analysts pointed In a note on Monday that RIL’s FY18 earnings rose 21% and working capital helped cash flow again but $12.3billion in capex still left net liabilities $4billion higher at $38.3 billion.
“We expect this to fall but gradually even as earnings uncertainties remain. With valuations also rich and ROCE (return on capital employed) modest, we keep our UNPF (underperformer),” Jefferies analysts said.