Tata Motors Q1 consol PAT seen up 13% at Rs 2,242 cr

Country's largest commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors is expected to report consolidated profit after tax of Rs 2,242 crore in the first quarter of FY12, an increase of 13% as compared to Rs 1,988 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

Revenues are seen going up 18% to Rs 32,000 crore from Rs 27,055 crore year-on-year. However, operating profit margin is seen declining to 14% versus 14.6% during the same period.

On standalone basis, revenues are likely to go up by 17% to Rs 12,230 crore while profit after tax is expected to decline 28% to Rs 330 crore year-on-year. Operating profit margin is seen falling to 8.7% in the quarter ended June 2011 from 11.3% in same quarter the previous year.

Tata Motors' subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is expected to report PAT of Rs 1,912 crore in the first quarter FY12, a growth of 29% as against Rs 1,480 crore in the quarter ended June 2010.

What to watch out for :

Consolidated sales to grow only 18% YoY, driven by a mere 8% increase in JLR sales as Q1 was a weak quarter for JLR

Margins to decline slightly yoy to 14% due to unfavourable currency movements (impacting JLR) as well as higher costs, reflected in EBITDA increase of 18% yoy to Rs 46.6 billion.

Profit to grow just 13% to reflect sharp decline in standalone operations (down 28% yoy) and high interest and depreciation due to JLR fund raising and capex

Low base impact will begin to wear off this quarter

PAT growth to be muted for rest of FY12 as well

Key thing to monitor should be situation in Europe, capex in JLR, expenses capitalised

Going ahead, new product launches in domestic business (Magic, Iris and Ace) are expected to drive volume growth.