Tata Motors Q3 net profit down 2 percent on weak China sales

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Tata Motors Ltd on Thursday said quarterly net profit for the December quarter fell 2 percent, hit by lower sales of its luxury Jaguar Land Rover unit in China, once its fastest growing market.

India's biggest automaker beat analyst expectations, helped by strong sales of its Jaguar saloons and sporty Range Rover vehicles in Europe and North America that partly offset the slowdown in China.

Tata Motors said net profit for the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31 was 35.08 billion rupees ($514.28 million), down from 35.81 billion rupees in the year-ago period.

Analysts on average had expected Tata to report a net profit of 27.61 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

 

Net sales during the quarter rose 4 percent to 716.86 billion rupees.

($1=68.2125 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)