A rise in profits at British luxury vehicle unit Jaguar Land Rover was not enough to offset an overall fall in fourth fiscal quarter after tax earnings at parent Tata Motors. Nonetheless, results were ahead of analysts’ estimates.
Net profit for the January-March 2013 quarter fell 36.7% year on year to INR39.45bn (GBP466.4m) on revenue up 10% to INR560bn.
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A one-off tax gain had contributed to a significantly higher net Q4 profit the year before. Analysts had on average expected a profit of INR28.86bn on revenues of INR518.51bn, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine.
Tata said the results were achieved “despite a weak operating environment in the standalone business which was more than offset by strong demand, growth in volumes, favourable market mix and favourable operating foreign exchange at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)”.
Unit sales (including exports) of commercial and passenger vehicles for the quarter fell 31.1% to 197,056.
“Weak macro-economic environment and competitive pressures on pricing, continued to impact the operations during the quarter,” Tata said.
Operating margin was 3.6% versus 9.5% a year ago.
Full year revenue slipped to INR44.8bn compared with INR54.3bn the previous year. Operating margin was 4.8%. Net profit was INR3.02bn compared to INR12.4bn.
JLR sales for the fourth quarter rose 18.7% to a record 116,340 units with Jaguar up almost 50% to 21,163 and Land Rover 13.4% to 95,177 thanks to new model derivatives and engines.
Revenue grew 21.9% to GBP5.05m, operating profit (EBITDA) was up 41.5% to GBP856m and net profit was downt to GBP378m from GBP696m.
Reuters reported that JLR’s profit margin rose to 16.9% in the fourth quarter and 15.2% for the full fiscal year. The margin was expected to remain in the range of 14-15% this financial year.
