Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR), the luxury car makers now owned by Indian conglomerate Tatas, has seen its UK operations skid into a net loss of 673.4 million pounds last year.
"Jaguar and Land Rover's core UK operations swung from a combined net profit of 641.5 million pounds in 2007 to a combined net loss of 673.4 million pounds last year," The Financial Times has reported.
Attributing to the accounts filed with the Companies House last week, the daily said the "total recognised losses" at the two carmakers – including actuarial and other losses related to their pension schemes – reached nearly 1.2 billion pounds last year.
The publication noted that the news of the amount JLR is losing in the UK comes as the car makers and their owner, "India's Tata Motors, strive to conclude long-running and increasingly acrimonious talks with the British government over short-term financing".
The report attributing to JLR said the accounts covered only its UK operations, and did not consolidate its businesses elsewhere.
According to the daily, JLR acknowledged that the figures "demonstrate the significant impact of the global recession and credit crunch on the automotive (industry) and the premium segment in particular".
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Tatas acquired JLR from US car maker Ford Motor last year for about $2.3 billion.
JLR said Jaguar's 2007 results included a 308.7 million pounds gain from the sale of its shares in Aston Martin, another of Ford's luxury brands, which was sold to Kuwaiti investors that year, the report noted.
Excluding exceptional items, Jaguar's pre-tax loss of 38.3 million pounds in 2007 had narrowed slightly to a 34.1 million pounds loss last year, it added.
"In its accounts, Land Rover said it had arranged borrowing facilities of 100 million pounds and $486 million between January and May, $300 million with banks and the rest with Tata-affiliated companies that had confirmed they would roll the facilities over into 2010 if needed," the daily said.
Quoting Jaguar and Land Rover, the report noted that it had a letter of intent for another 100 million pounds for at least a year from a Tata-affiliated company.