Tata Steel's Q4 loss at Rs 5,674 cr; to exit non-core assets

Tata Steel today reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 5,674.29 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2015, mainly due to non-cash write downs and a "challenging" 2014-15 fiscal.
The domestic steel giant, counted among the top-ten steel companies globally, had posted a net profit of Rs 1,035.87 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a BSE filing.
Total consolidated income declined by 21 per cent to Rs 33,666.18 crore in the last quarter of 2014-15, compared to Rs 42,428.05 crore in the same quarter of 2013-14.
For the 2014-15 fiscal, the firm posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 3,925.52 crore. It had reported a net profit of Rs 3,594.89 crore in 2013-14.

Consolidated total income declined to Rs 1,39,503.73 crore in 2014-15, from Rs 1,48,613.55 crore during 2013-14.
"It has been a very challenging year for the steel industry with several macro headwinds at play," Tata Steel Managing Director (India and South East Asia) T V Narendran said.

Steel realisations fell sharply during the second half of the year due to the deluge of imports combined with sluggish domestic demand. In addition, the company's performance was impacted by mining disruptions during the year, he added.
"We are hopeful that steel demand will rebound this fiscal year on the back of higher investments across key industrial and infrastructure sectors as the government's 'Make-In-India' campaign starts yielding results," he said.

Despite this, Tata Steel continued to outperform the industry and registered growth in deliveries in a relatively flat steel market, Narendran said.
"Our focus on our marketing franchise, strong customer relationships and various cost saving initiatives have helped us weather the weak business environment," he added.
Tata Steels' deliveries of the metal were lower at 7.06 million tonne (MT) in January-March of 2014-15 against 7.62 MT in the year-ago period. For the entire 2014-15, its steel deliveries fell to 26.32 MT from 26.56 MT.
Tata Steel Group Executive Director (Finance & Corporate) Koushik Chatterjee said: "The company also continues to pursue its strategy of exiting non-core assets and has initiated action on de-risking its exposure to the UK Pension scheme that would help the long term sustenance of the UK business amidst difficult business environment."

Tata Steel's India performance this year was impacted by surging imports, declining commodity prices, muted demand and regulatory uncertainties in captive mining operation, he said.
Tata Steel Europe MD and CEO Karl-Ulrich Kohler said: "Our European production and deliveries were stable, despite being constrained by reduced demand in the second half and operational issues such as a power blackout in the Netherlands in the fourth quarter."
Shares of Tata Steel today fell by 1.85 per cent to settle at Rs 361.35 apiece at the BSE.