Tata Motors Q3 net trebles, driven by one-off item, JLR

In the standalone business, revenue fell 27 percent year-on-year, from Rs 10,630 crore to Rs 7,769 crore while net profit stood at Rs 1,251 crore versus a loss of Rs 458 crore.

Tata Motors’ domestic business has witnessed an intense slowdown as sales of its passenger cars came off in the face of high competition and its own line-up of cars being perceived as dated. The firm’s share in the passenger vehicle fell to about 8.5 percent in the month of December 2013, down from about 12 percent in FY13 and 14 percent in FY12.

At the ongoing Auto Expo, Tata has showcased a slew of vehicles including a hatchback named Bolt and a Zest sedan, apart from recently launching upgraded versions of its Nano car.

JLR numbers beat

In contrast, business at JLR, the marquee British firm Tata acquired in 2008, remained brisk and continued to provide a boost to the consolidated numbers.

Quarterly profits for JLR stood at 619 million pounds on revenues of 5.33 billion pounds, higher than analysts’ consensus estimates of 433 million pounds and 5.22 billion pounds, respectively.

Operating profit for the automaker stood at 955 million pounds, translating into margins of 17.9 percent. The street was looking for EBITDA of 840 million and operating margin at 16 percent.

The company management, at a press conference, said JLR’s margins increased due to an improvement in its product mix -- the company's new Land Rover models such as the Range Rover Evoque and Jaguar's F-Type have met with success -- and higher contributions from high-growth markets such as China.