Tata Motors' consolidated net loss widened to Rs 307 crore in the September quarter due to the pandemic, but it expects gradual recovery of demand and supply in the coming months.
The auto major had reported a net loss of Rs 187.7 crore during the July-September period previous fiscal.
It also expects most of the issues concerning the commercial vehicle segment to be resolved in the next three months if the present trend of improvement in demand continues, P B Balaji, Group Chief Financial Officer, Tata Motors, told reporters in the post-earnings conference call.
"As we look ahead, we see demand gradually improving. In the case of JLR, we see demand picking up in all the geography we operate under and we expect continued performance improvement in JLR as the quarter and year progress.
"At Tata Motors, we see passenger vehicles gradually returning back to growth, and we are also seeing an increase in market share as the supply chain issues start sorting out. Overall, we expect the second half of the year to be even stronger compared to the first half of the year," Balaji said.
The company's total revenue from operations declined to Rs 53,530 crore in the second quarter as against Rs 65,431.95 crore during the same period last fiscal, Tata Motors said.
On a standalone basis, the company posted a net loss of Rs 1,212.45 crore for the September quarter. It had registered a net loss of Rs 1,281.97 crore in the same period last fiscal.
The total revenue from operations stood at Rs 9,668.10 crore as compared to Rs 10,000.48 crore in the September quarter of 2019-20.
Jaguar Land Rover reported a revenue of 4.4 billion pound, up 52.2 per cent from April-June quarter this fiscal, although it is 28.5 per cent lower compared to the same period a year ago.
The luxury brand generated a 65 million pound profit before tax in the second quarter, compared to a loss of 413 million pound in the prior quarter. The PBT stood at 156 million pound a year ago.
Balaji said JLR in China was back to growth as far as this quarter is concerned and the company continues to see things improving on the ground there and in the rest of the world.
"In the UK, we have almost flat growth in this quarter and then we see the USA, and Canada coming through, and now Europe has also started to lift," he said, adding that the concerns are in those countries where COVID situation is in various stages.
On the concerns around the second wave of COVID-19, he said so far it is not showing on the demand pattern and neither anyone expect significant lockdown in terms of economic activity.
On the impact of Brexit on JLR, Balaji said, "We have always reiterated that we want a frictionless border. It is good for everybody in the long-run. That is something that we would expect. Having said that we are operationally well prepared for any friction that does happen on the border in terms of border control".
"In the situation of a hard Brexit, we expect to see tariffs definitely come through, but we also expect depreciation of the pound, and so the net impact needs to be seen," he noted.
Balaji said that about a month or two back there were concerns around the pace of recovery in the CV segment, but this segment is also looking up.
The small commercial segment witnessed improvement much earlier and is coming back to growth again. And intermediate and light commercial vehicles have also started seeing good momentum from October, and the cargo segment has also started picking up slowly, he said.
CV business compared to what it was one and a half month back has definitely improved now, Balaji added.
Even more assuringly financing concerns are now starting to evaporate, he said, adding once the moratorium is cleared, people will see that things are not as bad as they were.
"Lots of people want to repay loans on time and therefore we are now seeing improvement in the loan recovery rate and that is ensuring financing coming into commercial vehicles as well.
"If this trend were to continue, I would expect most of the issues concerning the CV segment resolved in the next three months or so," Balaji said.
Despite concerns around the risk of a second wave of infection in many countries and other geopolitical risks, the company expects a gradual recovery of demand and supply in the coming months, Tata Motors said in a statement.
