Tata Motors Q4 net doubles on growth at JLR, tax credit

Nachiket Kelkar

Moneycontrol.com

Tata Motors fourth quarter consolidated net profit more than doubled year-on-year to Rs 6,234 crore as continued strong growth at luxury Jaguar Land Rover unit coupled with an exceptional gain helped cushion domestic speed bumps.

The company had tax credit of Rs 1,826 crore in Jan-March in its subsidiary company. Tata Motors' profit before exceptional items and tax surged 68% to Rs 4,596 crore in the quarter.

Its consolidated revenue for the fourth quarter was up 44% to Rs 50,908 crore.

Analysts on average were expecting a net profit of Rs 4,200 crore on revenue of Rs 50,400 crore, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll.

JLR sold 98,021 units in Jan-March, up 48% from a year ago, driven by new products like Evoque SUV, which has sold 60,217 units till March-end.

It is also seeing strong sales in new markets like China, which accounted for 19% of the total volumes in Q4, said Ralf Speth, JLR's CEO.

JLR sales surged 29% to 3.14 lakh units for the full year, its highest ever. JLR has pegged a capex of GBP 2 billion this year, which will be used towards investing in new products and its facilities among others, he said.

JLR has a gross debt of GBP 2 billion and cash and cash equivalent of GBP 2.4 billion. Speth said newer markets like China, Russia, India and South America are expected to drive growth at JLR going ahead.

Standalone Operations

While JLR continues to accelerate, sluggish sales of cars and heavy trucks due to high interest rates, expensive petrol and overall economic slowdown continues to hurt Tata Motors' operations in India.

Its standalone net profit declined to Rs 565 crore in Jan-Mar from Rs 573 crore year ago. Revenue grew 14% to Rs 16,391 crore.

Tata Motors' standalone margins improved to 9.5% from 8.9% due to reduction in marketing costs.

Its total sales, including CVs and PVs, in India were up 10.7% in FY12 to 9.26 lakh units, led by strong growth in LCVs like Ace and diesel PVs. Tata Motors had a market share of 59.4% in CVs and 14.2% in PVs last financial year.

Currently diesel vehicles account for 70% of the company's domestic PV sales, said PM Telang, MD, India operations.

He said the company would continue to focus on improving fuel effeciency in its PVs in the wake of sharp rise in petrol price in India.

Tata Motors is also adding 300 touch points to boost Nano sales, especially in smaller towns and rural areas, Telang said.

While he refused to comment on a diesel version of the Nano, a CNG version will be launched some time this financial year, he said.

Tata Motors shares closed at Rs 275.90, down 0.25% on BSE on Tuesday.

Nachiket.kelkar@moneycontrol.com