Reliance Com net up by 42 per cent

Mumbai, May 1 (UNI) Reliance Communications Ventures Limited (RCVL), one of the four Reliance- Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) companies controled by Anil Ambani, today announced an unaudited proforma consolidated financial results that put the net profit at Rs 440 crore for the quarter ended March 31, prior to extraordinaries, growth of 42% over the previous quarter.

The consolidated financial results relate to RCVL and its operating companies, including inter alia Reliance Infocomm Limited (RIC), Reliance Communications Infrastructure Limited (RCIL), Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL), and FLAG Telecom Limited (FLAG).

The company which was listed on stock exchanges in March and being traded currently between Rs 290 to 308 per share, reported a revenues earning at Rs 2970 crore for the quarter with continuation of strong growth trend in the profitability across all business such as wireless, global and broadband business.

The market capitalization of RCVL as on April 29 based on equity capital post reorganization, was Rs 65,000 crore. The company stock will be included in the benchmark index, the BSE Sensex, from June 12,2006.

The earnings before interest and tax deduction allowance (EBITDA) of Rs 1,042 crore recorded a growth of 23 per cent over the previous quarter ended December 31, 2005. The EBITDA margin rose from 28 per cent to 35 per cent sequentially.

While total assets of was nearly Rs 26,000 crore, the Net Worth was Rs 11,742 crore as at March 31, 2006. The net bebt of the company was Rs 3,293 crore with debt-equity ratio at 0.28:1.0.

The company which held its Board meeting yesterday and announced the results today, did not provide the comparative figures of the previous quarters.

In the interests of better disclosure and to assist investors in understanding overall performance of RCVL, a company statement today said that the proforma numbers have been prepared as if the proposed corporate reorganization (previously announced) was implemented for the quarter.

The proforma numbers are based on a prudent and conservative accounting methodology, whereby revenues during the quarter from Lifetime free incoming plans have been deferred over a period of 46 to 65 months.

Commenting on the results, Chairman of RCVL Anil Ambani, said that the company is the India's ''youngest, fastest and largest communication firm that maintained its market leadership with product offerings across all segements and each and every service area.

The wireless business achieved the highest ever acquisitions of 3.2 million customers in a single quarter, with our total base crossing a record 20 million customers as at March 31, 2006.

The EBITDA margin of the wireless business expanded from 32 to 36 per cent, led by record customer acquisitions, economies of scale, cost efficiencies and productivity gains. The EBITDA margin for global business also improved from 15 to 19 per cent.

The broadband business achieved revenue growth of 54 per cent with EBITDA margin grew from 20 to 31 per cent sequentially.

The market share of the company was 21 per cent in India.

UNI GC PP SKB1719