Tata Sons' FY08 net rises 13%

Tata Sons, the holding company for the Tata Group, has reported a 13 per cent increase in profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 3,780 crore during the financial year ended March 2008, as dividend income from group firms seems to have increased its profit.

At this level of profit, the 91-year-old firm, which is two-thirds owned by charitable trusts, would be one of the top profit earners among unlisted companies. The data was obtained from the Tata Motors’ letter of offer submitted to the market regulator. However, 46 Tata group companies posted a cumulative loss of Rs 3,416 crore in the last fiscal, led by huge loss in telecom and direct-to-home ventures.

Tata Teleservices, which is the Tata Group’s main vehicle for mobile telephone services, has reported a net loss of Rs 1,813.7 crore for the year ended March 2008, as compared to a loss of Rs 2,062.5 crore in the fiscal ended March 2007.

The other major loss-making group company is Tata Sky, which is a joint venture with the Star group. The direct-to-home venture has reported a net loss of Rs 864 crore for the fiscal ended March 2008, as against a loss of Rs 815.7 crore in the previous fiscal. Dish TV, which leads the subscriber numbers, has reported a net loss of Rs 414 crore in the last fiscal ended March 2008.

The earnings per share (EPS), which is the ratio of profit after tax and the total number of shares, was Rs 91,155 for Tata Sons for the fiscal ended March 2008, as against Rs 82,322 in financial year 2006-07. The face value of the company’s equity shares is Rs 1,000 each. However, the book value is much higher at Rs 2,75,660 per share for the year ended March 2008. Holding companies, which only invest in other group companies, tend to have higher book values as the stake held is less than 50 per cent in big companies and results are not consolidated, said an independent equity analyst.

Reserves of this unlisted company stood at Rs 15,524 crore as on March 2008. In 2007-08, Tata Sons, which has 101 subsidiaries including India’s largest software services company, Tata Consultancy Services, has increased its preference share capital by Rs 76.7 crore to Rs 274.7 crore. But its equity capital remained unchanged at Rs 40.4 crore.

Insurance venture records Rs 339 cr loss

The life insurance venture of the Tata Group, Tata AIG Life Insurance, has reported a net loss of Rs 339.3 crore in the twelve-month period ended March 2008, as against a loss of Rs 72.3 crore in the financial year ended March 2007. The company, where Tata and AIG shared ownership in the ratio of 74 per cent and 26 per cent respectively, was under scrutiny by the insurance regulator because of AIG getting impacted by financial crisis hitting the US markets. Details of the non-life insurance venture were not given.