Robust JLR sales lift Tata Motors’ Q3 profit

NEW DELHI: Tata Motors Ltd beat Street expectations with a 68% rise in consolidated net profit for the December quarter as sales of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) luxury vehicles rose in China and higher sales of its namesake passenger vehicle sales during the festive season helped narrow losses in India.

Net profit rose to ₹2,941.48 crore in the three months to 31 December from ₹1,755.88 crore a year earlier, the Mumbai-based maker of Safari sport-utility vehicles and Prima trucks said on Friday.

Quarterly profit beat the ₹1,173.10 crore consensus estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Tata Motors, which had reported a ₹307.26 crore loss in the September quarter, kept a tight lid on fixed costs, helping improve its operating performance in the fiscal third quarter.

The company swung to a net profit in the just-ended quarter, riding on improving sales of luxury JLR vehicles in the key China market, after three straight quar- terly losses when the pandemic sapped automobile demand in the country. Sales of JLR vehicles in China rose 19% from a year ago as the Chinese economy roared back to pre-pandemic growth rates. Global sales of JLR vehicles dropped 9% to 128,500 units. Tata Motors’ consolidated revenue from operations, however, rose a modest 5.54% to ₹75,653.79 crore in the December quarter. Analysts had estimated sales of ₹76,658.7 crore.

The firm reported a 60% jump in operating profit to ₹11,500 crore while margins expanded 5.4 percentage points to 14.8% despite a surge in the cost of raw materials such as steel.

JLR’S net sales fell 6.5% to £6 billion in the just-ended quarter but its profit before tax jumped 38% to £439 million thanks to cost savings. Tata Motors said the Brexit deal is in line with the company’s expectations and will not disrupt the operations of JLR. The prevailing lockdown in parts of Europe and the UK may, however, hamper JLR’S prospects in the coming months.