10:00AM, 7:30PM Mumbai - Record earnings for Reliance Industries; Net profit up 26%.

Reliance Industries Limited reported 38.8 billion rupees in profits during the final three months ended December 31 2007, an increase of 26% from 30.8 billion rupees made a year earlier, boosted by the sale of a 4% stake in Reliance Petroleum Ltd.

In the quarter, net income, including a one-time gain from selling a stake in unit Reliance Petroleum, rose to 80.8 billion rupees.

Reliance Industries, the biggest capitalised company in India said it beat earnings expectations for the period, with its profits more than doubling compared to a year ago, lifted by a one-off sale.

""I am happy to report that Reliance continues to surpass previous records in financial performance,"" Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries said in a statement accompanying the results.

Net sales rose 21% from a year earlier to 358.80 billion rupees The results beat the average of eight analysts'' expectation in a survey polled by Dow Jones.

They had pegged profit at 77 billion rupees, with 38.40 billion rupees coming from a one-time gain from the stake sale. More than 75% of its money was generated from oil refining business.

Record earnings will help Mukesh Ambani to complete the world''s biggest refinery complex and start piping gas from the nation''s largest field this year.

The combined facility will be the world''s biggest refinery and will earn $2 a barrel more than the existing.

Reliance more than doubled last year in Mumbai trading on expectations the $11.3 billion projects will boost earnings growth.

During the quarter, Reliance Industries earned $15.4 a barrel from processing oil in the three months ended December, compared with $11.7 a year ago, and more than triple the average in the U.S.

Reliance operates the world''s third-largest refinery at Jamnagar in western India and has tied up with U.S.-based energy giant Chevron Corp. to build another refinery at the same site. Together, the two refineries will process 1.24 million barrels of crude per day by 2009.

It has lately entered the retail business and plans to build a nationwide network of stores and supermarkets. Profits from the flagship oil refining business would help fund Reliance Industries'' new businesses.

The company processed 23.7 million tonnes of crude oil into fuels during the nine months ended Dec. 31 2007. It exported 16.4 million tonnes of liquid compared with 13.5 million tonnes a year ago.