Forex, margin gains boost Tata Steel Q1 net

CORPORATE SCORECARD

Tata Steel, the world's sixth largest steelmaker, today announced a record quarterly net profit of Rs 1,222.11 crore in the June quarter, 28 per cent higher than Rs 953 crore in the corresponding period a year ago, led by foreign exchange gains and higher margins.

Tata Steel has posted a net gain of Rs 553.02 crore due to appreciation of the rupee against various foreign currencies during the April-June quarter. This is the major chunk of exceptional item of Rs 686.43 crore.

Net sales increased to Rs 4,198 crore, an increase of 7.6 per cent, despite a dip in steel sales by 6.6 per cent to 1.04 million tonnes and a 3.9 per cent drop in production to 1.06 million tonnes. 
 

BREAKING THE MOULD
(Rs crore)	Quarter ended June		% chg
	2006	2007
Net sales	3,899	4,198	7.67
Expenditure	2,318	2,498	7.77
Operating profit	1,581	1,699	7.46
PBT	1,416	1,903	34.39
Net profit	953	1,222	28.23
EPS (Rs)	17.23	20.23	17.41

Trade sources said, the coming few quarters could be better, as steel prices were headed northwards from September. They added that Tata Steel would significantly from this year's purchase of Anglo-Dutch Corus Group.

Despite beating forecast, the Tata Steel stock ended lower at Rs 647.30, down 0.66 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today when the the BSE Metal index was down by more than one per cent and the bellwether Sensex was flat. Tata Steel's shares rose nearly 33 per cent during the June quarter, outperforming a 12.1 per cent rise in the main index.

Tata Steel said it would report the June quarter consolidated results, including Corus, by the end of August.

Exports were hit as export turnover was at Rs 88.19 crore, a decline of 11.25 per cent.

Earnings per share rose 17.41 per cent to Rs 20.23 in this quarter.