Tata Steel reported a net profit of ₹1,036 crore in the fourth quarter of FY14 against a loss of ₹6,529 crore in the year-ago period.
“The improved and steady performance of operations across geographies despite weak market conditions led to this significantly improved performance,” said Tata Steel in a company statement.
The company’s net income from operations stood at ₹42,428 crore (₹34,650 crore). The group’s steel deliveries in FY14 increased to 26.56 million tonnes (mt) from 24.13 mt in FY13.
The board of directors recommended a dividend of ₹10 a share on ordinary shares of ₹10 each for the financial year 2013-14.
On a full year basis, the company’s net profit for FY14 increased 27 per cent to ₹6,412 crore (₹5,063 crore).Turnover for the full year was ₹41,711 crore (₹38,199 crore).
Its net debt as on March 31, 2014, stood at ₹67,326 crore.
Koushik Chatterjee, Group Executive Director (Finance and Corporate), said: “The Group’s profitability showed sustainable improvement over the year on the back of strong performance in key regions. Despite weak market conditions in India, our business achieved higher sales and generated a higher EBITDA margin of 32 per cent for the year.”
“We spent around ₹16,400 crore on capex during the year, with a large portion deployed at our new plant in Odisha. Despite this significant spend, we were able to keep the net debt level stable over the last quarter. Liquidity remains adequate with around ₹18,000 crore of cash and cash equivalents and undrawn credit lines, in addition to the undrawn KPO financing,” he added.
The company’s scrip closed at ₹422, up ₹25 or 4 per cent, from its previous close on the BSE on Wednesday.