Tatas-owned Jaguar Land Rover will this week unveil record annual profits exceeding £1 billion, completing the luxury car maker’s remarkable recovery from the depths of recession, media reported on Sunday.
JLR is forecast to declare £1.1 billion profit for the year to March 31, compared with a gain of £32 million last year and a £281 million loss in the first 10 months after Tata took over, the ‘Sunday Telegraph’ reported.
The record profit comes just two years after the car maker sought Government support and warned of a “national emergency” in the industry as sales tumbled.
According to the report, the turnaround has been driven by rapidly growing sales in emerging markets such as India and China where the cars are status symbols for the growing middle classes - and investment from Tata in new models such as the Range Rover Evoque.
A JLR source said the results will be “extremely good” and that the British car maker, which employs 17,000 persons, is the “star” performer for Tata. The results are expected to be presented as part of the company’s annual results on Thursday.
The previous record profit for JLR is £300 million the company made in 2007, the last year under Ford. JLR made a net profit of £734 million in the nine months to December 31 and sales have continued to grow since then, led by Land Rover.
In March, more Land Rovers were sold in the UK than any other month in the company’s history. Land Rover also secured record March sales in China and India, with sales up 33 per cent and 61 per cent, while Jaguar enjoyed its best month in India as well as a 70 per cent rise in Russian sales and a 49 per cent rise in Germany. Overall, sales in March rose by 6 per cent for JLR and 13 per cent in the first quarter.