Tata Steel gains after securing order from a French rail operator

Tata Steel rose 0.96% to Rs 396 at 11:36 IST on BSE after the company said it has won a two-year contract to supply more than 2 lakh tonnes of track to French rail operator SNCF.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 21.39 points or 0.1% at 20,707.99.

On BSE, so far 2.65 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 9.19 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 399.20 and a low of Rs 391.70 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 440.05 on 8 January 2013. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 195.40 on 7 August 2013.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 8 January 2014, sliding 7.18% compared with the Sensex's 1.27% fall. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, spurting 32.2% as against the Sensex's 3.73% rise.

The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 971.21 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Tata Steel said that the contract with French rail operator SNCF will see Tata Steel supply the majority of SNCF's rail requirements in lengths of up to 108 metres from its plant in Hayange, Northern France.

The order was secured following a euro 35 million investment by Tata Steel in 2011 which allowed the Hayange mill to produce 108m lengths of rail that SNCF will use throughout France's standard and high-speed networks. The new order is an extension of a previous contract with SNCF, Tata Steel said.

Henrik Adam, Tata Steel's Chief Commercial Officer said, "We know that by working with customers we are able to innovate and develop products they want. We made a significant investment in Hayange to be able to produce the 108m long rail required by SNCF. Our heat-treatment facility means we are also now able to produce highly wear-resistant rail in lengths up to 108m - a key requirement of most of our European customers".

The Hayange rolling mill is supplied with steel from Tata Steel's Scunthorpe steelworks in the UK.

Gard Glas, Rail Sector Head, Tata Steel, said, "We are committed to serving the needs of our customers and SNCF is Hayange's largest and most important customer. We have worked closely with SNCF to understand their requirements and have invested in both our plant and technical areas to ensure we can continue to meet their needs. This contract helps to justify the confidence Tata Steel placed in the Hayange mill when the company invested in 108m rail and more recently in 108m 'stress-free' heat-treated rail".

Tata Steel reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 916.77 crore in Q2 September 2013 as against net loss of Rs 363.93 crore in Q2 September 2012. Net sales rose 7.4% to Rs 36369.64 crore in Q2 September 2013 over Q2 September 2012.

Tata Steel is a top ten global steel maker and the world's second most geographically diversified steel producer.

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