Tata Motors posts Q2 loss of Rs. 1,048 crore; indicates at poor Jaguar Land Rover performance

Tata Motors on Wednesday reported a consolidated loss worth Rs. 1,048 crore for its quarter ending September 2018.

Impacted largely by the disappointing performance of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the company reported its profit for September quarter 2017, at Rs. 2,483 crore.

"The Tata Motors domestic business continued to deliver strong improvement in operational and financial performance by implementing the Turnaround 2.0 strategy effectively. We have improved our market shares whilst delivering robust improvement in profitability in both the Commercial Vehicles and Passenger Vehicles and generated positive Free Cash flows," said Chairman N Chandrasekaran.

He added that the strong performance in the face of an intensely competitive market situation augurs well for the future.

"In JLR, market conditions, particularly in China, have deteriorated further. To weather this volatile external scenario, we have launched a comprehensive turnaround plan to significantly improve our free cash flows and profitability. The leadership team at JLR is in mission mode to achieve the deliverables under this plan," he said while noting the poor market conditions in China.

However, on sequential basis, Tata Motors reported loss of Rs. 1,902.4 crore in June quarter.

Provision for impairment of capital work-in-progress and intangibles under development (Rs. 93.21 crore) and provision for costs of closure of operation of a subsidiary (Rs 437.08 crore) also hit bottom-line.

"Our solid, all-around performance in Q2FY19 has impressively demonstrated that Tata Motors 'Turnaround 2.0' is in full swing. The continued improvements were made possible due to a robust product and innovation pipeline, strong market activation, rigorous cost reductions and structural process improvements," said CEO and MD, Tata Motors, Guenter Butschek.

"Therefore, despite near term market challenges, I am confident that Tata Motors will continue its journey of delivering Consistent, Competitive and Cash Accretive Growth in the coming quarters too," added Guenter Butschek.

Reporting consolidated revenue, the company noted that operations during the quarter increased 3.3 percent year-on-year to Rs. 72,112 crore driven by domestic sales volume.