Tata Steel Gains After Swinging To Profit Of Rs 3,989 Crore In December Quarter

Tata Steel shares surged as much as 3.55 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 724 on the BSE a day after it reported December quarter earnings. The country’s leading steel maker reported net profit of Rs 3,989 crore compared with a loss of Rs 1,165.78 crore in the same quarter last year. Its revenue from operations rose 11.5 per cent to Rs 39,594 crore as against Rs 35,520 crore during the corresponding period a year ago.

During the quarter Tata Steel’s consolidated EBITDA or operating profit increased 53 per cent sequentially and 2.6 times annually to Rs 9,540 crore with improved realization across key entities, Tata Steel said in an earnings release.

As part of the enterprise deleveraging plan, Tata Steel has completed reduction of net debt by Rs 18,609 crores in the first nine months of the current financial year. During the third quarter, the company reduced the leverage by Rs.10,325 crores, Tata Steel said.

“India’s crude steel production remained strong at 4.60 million tonnes and registered an annual growth of 3 per cent in third quarter of current fiscal. Domestic deliveries grew 8 per cent sequentially and 4 per cent annually to 4.16 million tonnes. Sales witnessed strong momentum but was constrained by lower opening inventory,” the Mumbai-based steel maker added.

“The recovery in the global and Indian economy has led to sharp improvement in steel demand in India. We pivoted our deliveries to domestic markets, to cater to the requirements of our local customers by reducing exports. All the segments, especially automotive, have performed extremely well supported by our continuous focus on strong customer relationships, superior distribution network, brands and new product developments,” T V Narendran, CEO & Managing Director of Tata Steel said in a statement.

“We are also making good progress on our various initiatives to de-risk the business while our digital marketing platforms are helping us reach new markets and be future ready. The investments in infrastructure and recent policy developments, to drive economic growth, should drive steel demand in India. Given strong market conditions and our success with deleveraging, we have restarted work on the pellet plant and the CRM complex at Kalinganagar which will help in reducing costs and improving revenues,” Mr Narendran added.

As of 11:05 am, Tata Steel shares traded 1.2 per cent lower at Rs 690.90, underperforming the Sensex which was down 0.3 per cent.