Tata Steel net profit jumps to Rs 3,116 cr in Q2

Tata Steel on Tuesday reported that its consolidated net profit jumped to Rs 3,116 crore during the quarter ended September 30, in the current fiscal as compared to Rs 1,018 crore in the year-ago period.

Consolidated revenues increased to Rs 43,544 crore as compared to Rs 32,464 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

"This has been one of the best ever quarters for Tata Steel India on the back of strong operating and market performance with the EBIDTA margin of 34 per cent and in excess of Rs 19,000 per tonne," company's Executive Director and CFO Koushik Chatterjee said.

He said the Bhushan Steel integration and synergies have been on track and that is reflected in the Bhushan Steel EBIDTA margin of Rs 10,291 per tonne..

"On the back of a strong India performance, the consolidated results of the company for the quarter reported 20 per cent EBIDTA margin despite an operationally weak quarter in our Europe operation due to unplanned shutdowns and stoppages both in Ijmuiden and Port Talbot," he said.

During the quarter, the group generated operating cash flows of Rs 7,769 crore and its liquidity position remained strong at Rs 26,470 crore, including Rs 14,478 crore of cash and cash equivalents, he said, adding that Tata Steel will financially support Tata Sponge in the rights issue that will be used for the acquisition of the Steel Business of Usha Martin which had on Monday obtained shareholder approval.

"One of our key priorities going forward is to reduce our leverage by around a billion dollars in the next 12 months from the internal cash flows and other strategic initiatives on the portfolio," Chatterjee said.

"This quarter, despite a seasonally weaker period, we sold 4.32 million tonnes across Tata Steel Standalone and Bhushan Steeel. We continue to work on our strategy of increasing our Indian footprint as we ramp up operations at Bhushan Steel and implement our 5mtpa expansion at our Kalinganagar," company's Managing Director and CEO T.V. Narendran said.

He said the company remained positive on steel demand outlook especially in India, the risk of trade wars and increasing imports remains a concern.

He further said, "We are making good progress on the TSE ThyssenKrupp JV. We are in discussions with the European Commission for the phase II review which typically takes 90 days."

--IANS

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