Driven largely by a strong demand for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) vehicles and a one-time gain from restructuring overseas units, Tata Motors Ltd posted a three-fold rise in the consolidated net profit at ₹4,804.8 crore for the quarter ended December 31.
Revenue grows The country’s largest vehicle maker had posted a net profit of ₹1,628 crore during the corresponding quarter last year. The Mumbai-based company’s consolidated net revenue rose 38.6 per cent to ₹63,877 crore (₹46,090 crore).
“The growth is on the back of a strong demand, growth in volumes and a favourable product and geographic mix at JLR (British luxury carmaker, which Tata Motors acquired in 2008),” CFO C Ramakrishnan said.
The one-time gain of ₹1,948 crore followed the restructuring, with the company moving all offshore units to Singapore-based TML Holdings PTE. Prior to the restructuring, all subsidiaries, except JLR, were held under Tata Motors.
During the quarter, JLR’s net profit more than doubled to £619 million (₹6,320 crore) compared with £296 million a year ago, while its revenue rose 40.1 per cent to £5,328 million (£3,804 million).
On a standalone basis, Tata Motors posted a net profit of ₹1,251.4 crore during the quarter compared with a net loss of ₹458.49 crore a year earlier. Standalone revenue fell to ₹7,769.7 crore from ₹10,630 crore.
“There has been a prolonged slowdown in the Indian macro-economy…,” Ramakrishnan said. A prolonged slowdown in economic activity, weak consumer sentiments, subdued infrastructure development, tight financing environment with high interest rates and fuel price rise, among others, continued to affect the sector, he added.
The commercial vehicle industry, led by a 31 per cent fall in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment and around 27 per cent in the light commercial vehicle segment, declined during the October-December quarter.
On Monday, the Tata Motors scrip closed up 0.86 per cent at ₹364 on BSE, ahead of the announcement.