Tata Motors net down 96 per cent on poor JLR, domestic sales

Wednesday 22nd February 2017 05:09 EST
 
 

With slow growth rates in its British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, and losses in domestic business, auto major Tata Motors reported a worse than expected 96 per cent fall in consolidated net profit to £11.15 million for the December quarter against a net profit of £295.26 million in the same quarter of last financial year.

Following demonetisation, the company's sales during the October-December quarter were down 2.2 per cent to £6.78 billion as against £6.94 billion in the year-ago period. Tata Motors' loss after tax, on a standalone basis, grew to £104.6 million in the third quarter of 2016-17 from £13.7 million a year ago. Revenues of the business, including joint operations, for the quarter under review stood at £1.02 billion, compared with £1 billion in the third quarter of 2015-16, up 1.47 per cent. The company said its commercial vehicles segment witnessed demand shrinkage due to demonetisation during the third quarter 2016-17. Medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment witnessed major pressure with a fall of 9 per cent and LCV segment was overall flat.

Passenger vehicles segment grew by 25.4 per cent with car segment rising by 31.1 per cent on the back of continued strong response to the Tiago. JLR posted revenue of 6,537 million pounds, compared with 5,781 million pounds in the year-ago period, up 13.1 per cent. It had profit after tax of 167 million pounds for the third quarter compared to 440 million pounds in the corresponding quarter last financial year, down 62 per cent. It also had lower wholesale volumes and less favourable product mix, but was partially offset by favourable market mix, including the runout of Discovery, the company said.

Tata Motors- Microsoft collaboration

Meanwhile, Tata Motors Ltd and Microsoft India announced a strategic collaboration on the technology front to make driving, a more personalised experience for the customers. Releasing a joint statement, the companies said the first vehicle showcasing the vision of the enhanced driving experience will be unveiled at the Geneva International Motor show on March 7. "Using IoT (internet of things), AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning technologies, we will provide vehicle owners in India and across the world, a safe, productive and fun driving experience," Anant Maheshwari, President at Microsoft India, said.

TCS Board approves £1.60 bn share buyback

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) announced £1.60 billion share buyback- biggest in the Indian capital market, as it looks to return surplus cash to shareholders. The decision comes at a time when India's largest software services provider is under pressure of losing revenue from its clients in the US, which accounts for 65 per cent of the $155 billion industry, under President Donald Trump's protectionist measures.

TCS said in a stock exchange filing that its board approved buyback of up to 56.10 million shares, or 2.85 per cent of its share capital, at Rs 2,850 apiece. The share buyback, if successful, will be India's biggest, surpassing Reliance Industries' 2012 share repurchase of £1.04 billion.

TCS shares rallied 4.08 per cent to close at Rs 2,506.50 on the BSE, the highest closing price in five months. "TCS Board of Directors has approved a proposal to buyback up to 5.61 crore equity shares of the company for an aggregate amount not exceeding £1.60 billion," the company said in the filing. The board meeting is the last for N Chandrasekaran as TCS chief executive before he takes over as chairman of parent Tata Sons Ltd, which controls 73.3 per cent of the software developer.


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