Tata Steel gains 5% post Q4 results; best performer on Sensex

The company posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 1,168 cr in Q4 against Rs 3,042 cr in previous year

Shares of Tata Steel was up 5% to Rs 480 on BSE in intra-day trade even as the company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 1,168 crore in March 2017 (Q4FY17), 61% lower as compared to Rs 3,042 crore in the same quarter the previous year.

The company’s consolidated revenue during the quarter under review was up 33% at Rs 35,305 crore, against Rs 27,071 crore in the year-ago period.

“The overall outlook for the steel market remains constructive on optimism on US infra spend and China supply side reforms. The recent slide in commodity prices, however threatens to dampen this optimism,” Tata Steel said on business outlook on India & South East Asia.

Thrust on infrastructure & affordable housing along with increasing emphasis on buying domestic manufactured steel for government projects is expected to drive growth in the Indian market, it added.

“Tata Steel's Q4FY17 consolidated EBITDA, at Rs 7,030 crore, was higher by 213% YoY and 93% sequentially with all geographies surprising positively, especially the European operations on the profitability front,” analyst at Antique Stock Broking said.

Domestic steel prices are likely to face pressure from the lower Chinese and CIS steel prices accentuated by the stronger INR and steel spreads at India and Europe could be impacted by the volatility in coking coal prices, the brokerage firm said in result review and maintain ‘hold’ rating on the stock.

“We have revised our volume and margins estimates for the domestic business. We also, believes, that considering the volatility in raw material and steel prices repeating this performance won’t be an easy task for the company. However, based on the recent improvement we upgrade the stock to Hold,” analysts at Emkay Global Financial Services said in a result update.

Meanwhile, the board has recommended a dividend of Rs 10 per equity share of Rs 10 each to the shareholders for the financial year ended March 31, 2017.

At 10:14 am; the stock was trading 4.6% higher at Rs 478 on BSE as compared to 0.14% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combined 16.07 million shares changed hands on the counter on BSE and NSE so far.