NEW DELHI: Tata Motors’ net profit more than tripled in the first quarter, the Indian giant said yesterday, driven by soaring sales of its British luxury marque Jaguar Land Rover.
India’s biggest automaker said consolidated group net profit climbed to Rs53.98bn ($882.3m) in the three months to June from Rs17.26bn for the same quarter of the previous year.
The figure easily outdistanced analysts’ forecasts of a profit of around Rs35.3bn. But Tata Motors, which also makes the ultra-cheap Nano hatchback, reported net profit at its Indian operations slid 44 percent to Rs3.94bn.
The profit tumble reflected “a continuing weak operating and economic environment in the standalone business”, Tata Motors said in a statement.
But this “was more than offset by strong demand for new products, growth in volumes,” Tata Motors said.
The earnings statement came ahead of the company’s launch of a new compact sedan model which Tata Motors hopes will revitalise car sales. The model launch is the company’s first in four years.
Tata Motors’ domestic performance has declined as it has lost market share to rivals Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai. Tata’s car model designs have been panned by critics as dull.
Tata Motors, part of the sprawling Tata tea-to-steel conglomerate, is now hugely reliant on revenues from Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which it bought for $2.3bn from Ford in 2008 at the height of the global financial crisis. The purchase, seen by auto analysts at the time as a risky gamble, has paid off dramatically with the iconic premium cars propelling Tata Motors’ profits.
AFP
