Tata Steel group posts Rs 1,036 crore profit in Jan-March

Tata Steel today reported a Rs 1,036 crore consolidated net profit for the January-March quarter on higher sales on the back of strong performance in Europe and India.
The group, which has an annual capacity of 29 million tonnes, including 18 million tonnes in Europe, had clocked a loss of Rs 6,529 crore in the same quarter a year ago after impairment charges, it said in a statement.
A mere Rs 46 crore of impairment charges in the fourth quarter compared with Rs 7,413 crore in the same quarter of the previous financial year helped the company to post an impressive performance.

Net sales rose to Rs 42,018 crore in the quarter from Rs 34,219 crore a year earlier. Total expenditure went up to Rs 38,889 crore from Rs 31,751 crore. Tax expenses were higher at Rs 1,365 crore compared with Rs 1,102 crore.
"The improved and steady performance of operations across geographies, despite weak market conditions, led to this significantly improved group performance," the company said.
Tata Steel sold 7.6 million tonnes of steel in the fourth quarter, up from 6.56 million tonnes a year earlier. For the full year, sales stood at 26.56 million tonnes from 24.13 million tonnes previously.

"Despite weak market conditions in India, our business achieved higher sales and generated a higher EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margin of 32 per cent for the year.

"Our European operations also showed a strong recovery over FY13, with higher volumes and an improvement in EBITDA margins by 257 bps over the year," said Koushik Chatterjee, Group Executive Director (Finance and Corporate).
For the full financial year, the company reported a profit of Rs 3,595 crore compared with a net loss of Rs 7,058 crore. Net sales rose to Rs 1,47,347 crore from Rs 1,33,538 crore.
The company's India operations contributed Rs 6,412 crore to annual net profit and Rs 41,271 crore to net sales.