Tata Steel is looking to invest £400 million in its European unit during the current financial year amid subdued demand in the European continent, a top company official said today.
“We will be investing £400 million in 2012-13... We plan to invest to improve performance of the operations in Europe and in areas which can provide quick returns,” Tata Steel’s Managing Director, H.M. Nerurkar, told reporters here on the sidelines of a CII conference.
He added that investments in Tata Steel Europe will be partly funded from internal resources, though added that it has not yet been finalised.
Revenues of Tata Steel Europe (formerly known as Corus), which was acquired in 2007, have been hit by financial crisis in the Eurozone economies, which has led to subdued demand for last several quarters.
In April-June quarter, Tata Steel Europe had reported a decline of over 67 per cent in its core profits (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) to $111 million in as compared to $343 million a year ago.
Besides, its total steel shipments had declined by 6.20 per cent to 5.68 million tonnes in the June quarter.
Nerurkar, however, expressed hope that steps being taken by governments in Euro zone economies to mitigate the financial crisis may help in improving the demand in the near term.
The Tata Steel Managing Director also said that recent measures taken by the Indian government to push economic reforms will help the domestic industry.
“We welcome it. Hopefully, more reforms measures will be taken, particularly in infrastructure sector,” he said.
Tata Steel shares were being traded at Rs 410.10 apiece on the BSE at 2.10 p.m., up 1.76 per cent from the previous close.