Tata Motor's net profit down 49 percent in Q1

Lower sales volume and weaker geographic mix of one of its business divisions hit the profitability of automotive maker Tata Motors as its net profit declined by 49 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

The company clocked a net profit of Rs.2,769 crore for the period ending June 30 this year as against Rs.5,398 crore in the same quarter the previous year.

Net consolidated revenue declined by six percent at Rs.61,020 crore for the quarter, as against Rs.64,683 crore in the similar period the previous year.

In a statement, the company blamed "lower sales and weaker geographic mix at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)" to have affected the company's performance.

On a standalone basis, the company's fleet replacement demand mainly in the high tonnage segment continued to support the sales growth at a rate of 20.7 percent during the review period. However, the domestic LCV segments continued to remain weak, registering a degrowth of 19 percent.

The domestic passenger vehicles segment of the firm grew by 27.4 percent during the months under review.

The net revenue, on a standalone bases for the quarter stood at Rs.9,297 crore, as compared to Rs.7,705 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Its revenue from the Jaguar Land Rover Automotive segment for the quarter stood at 5,002 million pounds against 5,353 million pounds the previous year.

"The financial performance in the quarter was lower than the strong corresponding quarter last year due to softer sales in China partially offset by strong performance in the UK, Europe and North America. Land Rover maintained healthy sales in the quarter with Range Rover, Range Rover Sport Discovery and Defender all up compared to the corresponding quarter last year," the company said.

Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Co. Ltd. registered net revenues of KRW 193 billion and recorded a net profit of KRW 12 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2015, as compared to KRW 222 billion and KRW 4 billion, respectively, in the corresponding quarter last year.

The company's captive financing subsidiary, Tata Motors Finance Ltd, on a consolidated basis, registered net revenue from operations of Rs.890 crore and reported a net profit of Rs.91 crore for the review period.