Tata Motors’ loss doubles

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Tata Motors Ltd. has reported a consolidated net loss of ₹3,680 crore for the first quarter ended June 30 compared with a net loss of ₹1,863 crore in the year-earlier period owing to loss of sales volume both at Tata Motors and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) during the quarter.

Consolidated revenue also dropped significantly to ₹60,830 crore compared with ₹65,957crore in the same period last year.

Challenging quarter’

Commenting on the company’s performance, P. B. Balaji, group CFO, Tata Motors said, “It was a challenging quarter for the auto industry. During the quarter, we saw a 21% volume decline and revenue was down 7.7%. China and Indian operations had the biggest impact on overall revenue.

“The loss of volume during the quarter had significant negative impact on the business. However, the good thing is that China has started showing stability for JLR,” he added.

On a standalone basis, Tata Motors Ltd. reported a first quarter revenue of ₹13,352 crore, down 20% from the same quarter last year. It reported net loss of ₹97 crore compared with a net profit of ₹1,188 crore.

“The continued slowdown across the auto industry is due to weak consumer sentiments.

“Liquidity stress and the effect of axle load norms, particularly in medium/heavy duty trucks, impacted overall demand,” said Guenter Butschek, CEO & MD, Tata Motors.

Good balance

“Over the last few years we had struck a good balance between managing market dynamics and financial health.

“However, this time, despite continuous turnaround effect we could not prevent some impact on our Q1 performance,” he said.

The company is now focusing on long term growth through emphasis on retail sales and is targeting an EBIT growth of 3 to 4% during the year, top executives said.

At JLR also, net revenues were down 2.8% to £5.1 billion. It reported a net loss of £402 million.

During the quarter, JLR made investments of £795 million in products and technologies. For the full year, investment has been capped at £3.8 billion.

JLR is expected to turn the tide as it is set to have electric versions of all its models by 2020 and with operations in China improving.

“JLR is in a period of major transformation. We will build on our strong foundations and increased operating efficiencies to return to profit this fiscal year,” said Ralf Speth, CEO, JLR.

JLR has committed that its its financial performance will improve in the remaining part of the year.