However, profitability of the company was partly hit by an exceptional loss of Rs 617 crore on account of provision for mining-related litigation.
In the period under review, the firm’s top line stood at Rs 30,803 crore, up 19 per cent from same period last year, as deliveries increased with India contributing 47 per cent of the group deliveries. Also, the growth in branded and retail sales in the domestic market by 19 per cent supported the top line. “Increased capacity in India with the ramp up at Kalinganagar along with ongoing restructuring of Europe operations helped Tata Steel witness increased revenues in the June quarter,” Koushik Chatterjee, group executive director (finance and corporate) said at the earnings conference call on Monday. Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and ammortisation (Ebitda) in the period under review stood at Rs 4,939 crore, up 50 per cent from last year, on higher volumes from domestic operations, and improved operating performance in Europe along with favourable conditions in the overseas business, said Chatterjee.
As part of restructuring of operations, Tata Steel said its UK operations completed sale of two pipe mills to Liberty House Group. The steel producer also sold its stake in Tata Motors for a total consideration of Rs 3,778 crore. “With this sale, we have monetised over Rs 14,266 crore of divestments over the last five years,” Chatterjee said.
The company has been in a divestment mode for a while now in order to generate more cash to reduce financial strain on its heavy balance sheet.
In India, revenues moved up due to higher volumes on a year-on-year basis to Rs 14,286 crore from Rs 10,261 crore in the corresponding period last year. Ebitda generated was impacted by higher input cost, which rose significantly due to volatile coking coal prices, the management said. In terms of its raw material security, Tata Steel’s iron ore requirement is entirely met via captive sources but 70 per cent of its coal requirement continues to remain unsecured.
Sequentially, sales volumes declined 14 per cent due to seasonal factors, de-stocking across the channel in the run-up to the GST and planned shutdown, said the company. Going ahead, the company is seeing price recovery on the back of stronger domestic demand and better international prices.
“We remain positive on the outlook for India steel markets given the thrust on infrastructure and affordable housing. We also expect rural demand to pick up on account of good monsoons, higher MSP (minimum support price) and loan waivers. However, appreciating rupee remains a cause of concern,” said T V Narendran, managing director of Tata Steel India operations. Meanwhile, the company’s European operations saw improved profitability as Ebitda went to Rs 1,253 crore in the June quarter, up from Rs 890 crore in the same period last year. “Our focus remains on increasing sales of differentiated products in our European sales mix,” said Hans Fischer, managing director and chief executive officer at Tata Steel Europe.
To read the full story, Subscribe Now at just Rs 249 a month
Already a subscriber? Log in
Subscribe To BS Premium
₹249
Renews automatically
₹1699₹1999
Opt for auto renewal and save Rs. 300 Renews automatically
₹1999
What you get on BS Premium?
- Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app.
- Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them.
- Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006.
- Preferential invites to Business Standard events.
- Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more.
Need More Information - write to us at assist@bsmail.in