Mumbai, July 19: Reliance Energy Ltd, the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group company, has posted a 13 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 177 crore for the first quarter ended June 30 against Rs 157 crore in the same period last year.

During the quarter, Reliance Energy’s (REL) topline grew to Rs 1,326 crore from Rs 1,084 crore last year.

While net sales of electrical energy stood at Rs 917.58 crore (Rs 782.64 crore), the income from engineering and construction division was also higher at Rs 237.27 crore (Rs 166.44 crore). Other income jumped to Rs 171.12 crore (Rs 135.36 crore).

REL said the aggregate sales of electrical energy during the period was at 2,229 million units, up 3.4 per cent over the corresponding previous quarter. The consumer base in Mumbai supply area also increased by about 30,000 to 25.2 lakh consumers.

The company’s EPC and contracts division had an order book position of about Rs 3,350 crore as on March 31, 2006.

On power generation, the company said its Dahanu Thermal Power Station operated at a plant load factor (PLF) of 104.3 per cent against 102.9 per cent in the corresponding previous period. The Samalkot Power Station in Andhra Pradesh operated at a PLF of 51.3 per cent, lower from 55.9 per cent a year ago.

REL purchased 1,148 million units of electrical energy from external sources during the quarter, which is higher by 8 per cent compared with the off-take a year ago. The cost of energy purchased increased by 14 per cent to Rs 314 crore during the period.

The REL scorecard, the first from the Anil Ambani stable, comes after Reliance Energy Ventures Ltd was amalgamated with the company with effect from July 17.

Consequent to this, 7.5 equity shares of REL will be issued to every 100 shares of REVL and about 43 per cent share capital of REL held by REVL will stand cancelled.

The shareholder base of REL would swell to about 17 lakh from the present 1.2 lakh after the allotment of shares to eligible shareholders of REVL. REVL was one of the four companies from the demerger of the Reliance empire.

Likewise, the amalgamation of Reliance Capital Ventures Ltd (RCVL) was also completed with Reliance Capital Ltd with effect from July 17.

Following this, five shares of Reliance Capital (RCL) will be issued to every 100 shares of RCVL and about 27 per cent share capital of RCL held by RCVL will be cancelled. The shareholder base of RCL will increase to more than 15 lakh from the present 1.60 lakh.