Tata Motors, on Monday, reported a marked improvement in its performance in the first quarter of 2014-15 on the back of a strong show by its subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).
The company’s consolidated net profit rose more than three-fold to Rs,5,398 crore from Rs.1,726 crores. Consolidated revenues rose 38 per cent to Rs.64,683 crore. Operating margin was at 18.2 per cent (14.5 per cent).
The company’s standalone business was impacted by the continuing weak operating and economic environment and it reported a net profit of Rs.394 crore (Rs.703 crore) but this was largely due to dividends from subsidiaries which stood at Rs.1,549 crore.
Revenue was lower at Rs.7,705 crore against Rs.9,105 crore.
Vehicle sales too fell 28 per cent at 1.11 lakh units.
Signs of revival
“While the company underperformed during the quarter, the passenger vehicle industry is seeing signs of revival in the rural and semi-urban market,” C. Ramakrishnan, CFO, Tata Motors, told a press conference.
“We hope to see some improvement in the second-half of the year,” he added.
“We are seeing some movement in the medium and & heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) industry, the first positive movement in the last nine quarters,” said Ravi Pisharody, President of Tata Motors’ commercial vehicle (CV) business.
There was a delayed response in the small and light CV segments.
“The segment’s problems are unlikely to be fixed soon and some uncertainty continues,” he added. Tata Motors has 44 per cent share in M&HCV segment.
However, JLR continued to perform well reporting a net profit of 693 million pounds during the quarter.
Revenues for the quarter were up more than 30 per cent at 5.353 billion pounds (4 billion pounds).
Operating profit margin was at a healthy 20.3 per cent. Retail sales rose 22 per cent to 1.16 lakh vehicles
Capex plan
JLR already announced a capex plan of 3.5-3.7 billion pounds for 2014-15.
Ralf Speth, CEO, JLR, said, “We want to build on the sales momentum from the Range Rover Sport, Jaguar F Type launches. There was a good volume growth with high double-digits in Europe. The U.S. and MENA (Middle East & North Africa) are also picking up.”
On the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Tata Motors stock rose 3.33 per cent to close at Rs.447.40.
PTI reports:
The strong sales, especially in China, the world’s biggest auto market, resulted in revenues of 5.35 billion pounds for the quarter, more than doubling its net income to 693 million pounds from 304 million pounds, Mr. Speth added.
Tata will launch a new sedan Zest on Tuesday, first in four years, in a bid to regain market share and plug losses in its domestic business.
Korean arm
Its Korean arm Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles registered net revenues of 222 billion Korean wons.
When asked about the China joint venture, Mr. Speth said the joint venture would roll out the first cars this fiscal itself and expressed optimism that post-local production sales would further jump in the world’s largest car market.
