Tata Steel swung back into black in the October-December quarter posting a consolidated profit of Rs 4,010.94 crore for the quarter on the back of increased income.
The company had clocked a loss of Rs 1,228.53 crore in the year ago quarter, Tata Steel said in a BSE filing on Tuesday.
The company's total income rose to Rs 39,809.05 crore in the third quarter of 2020-21 from Rs 35,613.34 crore in the year-ago period. Its expenses were at Rs 34,183.18 crore, lower from Rs 35,849.92 crore in October-December 2019-20.
In a statement, the company said it produced 4.60 million tonne of crude steel during the third quarter, registering a 3 per cent rise over the year ago quarter. Sales in the domestic market rose by 4 per cent to 4.16 MT compared to the year-ago period.
On its business in Europe, Tata Steel said the process to separate Tata Steel Netherlands and Tata Steel UK is currently underway.
On January 29, Tata Steel had announced that Swedish steel maker SSAB had withdrawn its initial interest for its Netherlands business. Tata Steel was in talks with SSAB on the potential sale of its Netherlands business, including Ijmuiden steelworks.
"Following the termination of the discussions with SSAB on Tata Steel Netherlands (TSN), the company will be focusing on performance and cash flows in the immediate term. Tata Steel is committed to arrive at a strategic and sustainable resolution for its European portfolio. The process to separate Tata Steel Netherlands and Tata Steel UK is currently underway," Tata Steel said without divulging any further information.
Tata Steel CEO and Managing Director T V Narendran said the recovery in the global and Indian economy has led to sharp improvement in steel demand in India. The investments in infrastructure and recent policy developments, to drive economic growth, should further drive the demand for steel in India.
Tata Steel Executive Director and CFO Koushik Chatterjee said from the deep impact of the pandemic in the first quarter of the current financial year, Tata Steel has delivered one of the best financial performance during this quarter with the highest ever consolidated EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of Rs 9,540 crore and free cash flows of over Rs 12,000 crore on the back of strong underlying operating performance of the India business, sharp focus on capital allocation and working capital management.
According to company data, it had reported an EBITDA of Rs 4,111 crore in year-ago-quarter.
Tata Steel said it has completed reduction of net debt by Rs 18,609 crore in the first nine months (April-December) of the current financial year.
"During the third quarter, the company reduced the leverage by Rs 10,325 crores. As part of the continued de-leveraging strategy further deleveraging is being undertaken in 4QFY21 (January-March quarter of 2020-21 fiscal)." Tata Steel Group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 34 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). It is one of the world's most geographically-diversified steel producers, with operations and commercial presence across the world.
