The Hindu Business Line : Tata Motors Q1 net rises 58%

The Tata Motors Vice-Chairman, Mr Ravi Kant, flanked by Mr P. M. Telang (left), Managing Director-India, and Mr C. Ramakrishnan, Chief Financial Officer, at a press conference to announce the company’s results in Mumbai on Monday. —

Our Bureau

Mumbai, July 27

Despite a drop in sales and revenue, Tata Motors has reported a 58 per cent jump in standalone net profit at Rs 514 crore for the first quarter ending June 30, 2009 against the year-ago period, thanks to a sharp fall in raw material cost and excise duty cuts.

While the total revenue was down 7.6 per cent to Rs 6,404 crore, volume sales dropped by 4.3 per cent to 1.33 lakh units.

The company is yet to announce the consolidated results, which would include the financial performance of the overseas subsidiaries such as Jaguar Land Rover. It had reported a consolidated loss of Rs 2,505 crore last fiscal largely due to the JLR burden.

It is in this context that Mr Ravi Kant, Vice-Chairman, said at a press meet here on Monday that consultants KPMG and Rolland Berger had been roped in to help arrest the continuing dismal performance of JLR and, in the process, cut costs and bring back operations to profitability.

Incidentally, apart from the $2.5 billion that Tata Motors had provided for the two British brands, an additional $1 billion has been spent to meet working capital requirements.

Despite this grim background, Tata Motors has cause for cheer from the viewpoint of its standalone performance. “It has recorded one of the highest operating profit margins (up to 11.4 per cent from 7.1 per cent) during this quarter,” said Mr Kant.

Total expenditure dropped 10.6 per cent to Rs 5,917 crore. The excise duty component came down from Rs 909 crore to Rs 526 crore, thanks to the stimulus package last fiscal. The notional foreign exchange loss during the quarter is just Rs 5.54 crore against Rs 161.59 crore in the year ago period.

“The quarter has shown strong signs of revival in the domestic market. In terms of volume, while the industry showed a decline of 9.2 per cent, we showed 1.4 per cent. Our share in medium and heavy vehicles segment went up to 67 per cent, and to 68 per cent in light commercial vehicles,” he added. Commercial vehicle sales (in the local market) grew 1.1 per cent to 72,216 units while passenger vehicles fell 10 per cent to 45,846 units.

Tata Motors also gained Rs 319 crore from disinvestment of its holding in Tata Steel during the quarter. The proceeds helped it repay $150 million of its $1-billion debt outstanding on account of the JLR acquisition. Mr P. M. Telang, Managing Director-India, said Tata Motors would begin retailing the World Truck from next month. In the car segment, a new Indigo and a crossover are due to debut by October.

Tata Motors’ shares ended flat at Rs 374.95 on the BSE on Monday.