New Delhi : Tata Steel Ltd reported a 22% rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,528.71 crore for September quarter as gains from selling shares in group companies negated decline in sales from weakening prices. Sales fell 18% to Rs 29,304.69 crore.
The company reported a sharp rise in other income mainly from sale of shares in Tata Motors and Titan for about Rs 3,200 crore.
While, the company’s Indian operations reported strong growth in production and deliveries in the September quarter, its European operations, particularly in the UK, significantly worsened as Britain continues to witness surge in imports and decline in competitiveness.
Tata Steel’s UK unit took a “significant impairment charge” for its Strips operation and is continuing to assess options for its long-products business. The impairment and other charges totaled up to Rs 10,269 crore, most of which were balanced out because of net one-time credit of Rs 8,570 crore on restructuring of British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) scheme and Rs 1,113 crore net one-time credit on reclassification of main pension scheme in the Netherlands.
Tata Steel India and South East Asia MD T V Narendran said: “Despite ongoing downturn in global commodity prices and seasonal weakness in demand, we were able to increase our deliveries by 9 per cent during the quarter on the back of strong sales to the auto sector and a higher proportion of value added products.”
