Tata Motors reported a marginal drop in its consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter of 2013-14 at Rs.3,918 crore against Rs.3,945 crore, owing to a continued weak performance of its domestic business. Consolidated revenues grew 16.6 per cent to Rs.65,317 crore aided by a better performance by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). The operating margin improved to 16.5 per cent (14.9 per cent).
For the whole of 2013-14, it reported a 41.4 per cent higher net profit of Rs.13,991 crore on 23.3 per cent higher consolidated revenue of Rs.2,32,834 crore. Operating margin for the year rose 200 basis points to 16.1 per cent.
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The board has recommended a dividend of Rs.2 per share. On a standalone basis, it reported a loss of Rs.817 crore for the fourth quarter against a loss of Rs.312 crore in the year-ago period. Revenues declined by 23 per cent to Rs.8,545 crore.
“The company was impacted by sustained deceleration in economic growth and factors like high inflation,” C. Ramakrishnan, CFO, Tata Motors, told a press conference.
“There was a dip in demand for two successive years but there is a lot of positive momentum.’’ Ranjit Yadav, President, Passenger Cars, said the company would not reduce its product portfolio and would add Zest and Bolt this year.
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“We started operations in Indonesia and was also entering Algeria,” he said. For 2013-14, the company reported a 11 per cent higher net profit of Rs.335 crore while revenue was lower by 23 per cent at Rs.34,288 crore. However, it is in the process of divesting investments in certain foreign subsidiary companies to a wholly-owned subsidiary and the profit before tax includes a profit of Rs.1,966 crore on such divestment.
Its India commercial vehicle (CV) sales were at 3,77,909 units and the market share was at 54.1 per cent. Passenger vehicle sales were at 141,846 units, with a 5.8 per cent market share.
JLR’s growth momentum continuesJLR reported a 19.3 per cent growth in net profit for the quarter at 449 million pounds. Revenues grew 6 per cent to 5.34 billion pounds while operating profit grew 12.2 per cent to 920 million pounds. The operating margin rose 100 basis points to 17.2 per cent.
In 2013-14, JLR net profit rose 55 per cent to 1.88 billion pounds on 22.8 per cent higher revenue of 19.38 billion pounds. Operating profit was at 3.4 billion pounds and margin was at 17.5 per cent.
Ralf Speth, CEO, JLR, said the company’s product plan for China was exclusive for that market.
“We will take our time. It is the biggest market in the world and the base is very big. The capex for the current year is 3.5-3.7 billion pounds (2.75 billion pounds).” On the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday, Tata Motors reacted by 1.18 per cent to close trading at Rs.423.8.