Tata Motors's third quarter consolidated profit after tax is expected to increase 0.87 percent year-on-year to Rs 4,846 crore, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.
Revenue is seen going up 3.5 percent to Rs 66,110 crore during October-December quarter from Rs 63,876 crore in same quarter last fiscal.
Consolidated operational performance is expected to be strong driven by JLR, feel analysts. Operating profit may grow 13 percent year-on-year to Rs 11,253 crore and margin may expand 250 basis points to 17 percent in the quarter gone by.
Jaguar Land Rover
JLR's profit is likely to be flat at 618 million pound with revenue rising 5 percent Y-o-Y to 5,595 million pound. Operating profit is seen rising 13.3 percent on yearly basis to 1,082.5 million pound and margin may jump 150 basis points to 19.4 percent during the quarter.
Analysts expect margin may continue to surprise during the quarter, simliar to last two quarters.
Volume growth of Jaguar Land Rover slowed down during the quarter due to phasing out of old products like Freelander, and adding new products like Discovery Sport. Volumes grew 3 percent Y-o-Y to 1,19,000 units from 1,16,000 units.
Standalone (Domestic business)
Domestic business (large contribution from commercial vehicle space) of the company may report loss of Rs 1,128 crore in Q3FY15 as against profit of Rs 1,251.4 crore in same quarter last fiscal.
Revenue may increase 13.6 percent to Rs 8,828 crore from Rs 7,769.7 crore during the same period. Loss at operating level is expected to be at Rs 161.5 crore in Q3FY15 against loss of Rs 459 crore in Q3FY14.
Total sales volumes during the quarter declined 3.1 percent year-on-year to 1,26,000 units from 1,30,000 units due to weak demand for commercial vehicles.
Total commercial vehicle sales dropped 8 percent year-on-year and 3 percent quarter-on-quarter at 78,391 units.
Analysts expect loss to mount due to heavy discounting in commercial vehicle business and continued loss in passenger vehicle business.
Even high interest and depreciation costs are likely to weigh on net profit. However, expectation is that sequential improvement in standalone business may be seen.
Most brokerages continued to be bullish on the stock due to multiple new product launches lined up in 2015, start of the China plant and gradual reduction in India business losses (due to commercial vehicle recovery).
Also, in last 6 months, forex moved smartly in favour of JLR. GBP depreciated 11 percent against US dollar from peak in July 2014, while GBP appreciated against euro. Both are positive for JLR as it is net exporter in USD (40 percent of sales) and net importer in euro (20 percent of sales).
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