Mumbai-headquartered Tata Steel stated that its focus for FY 2021-2022 is on continuing to strengthen the balance sheet of the Company which is the enterprise strategy. Further the company in its annual report stated the focus is completing its Kalinganagar project.
The company stated, “ While we are seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases in the second wave across the country, we are focussed on completing the Cold Rolling Mill complex and the Pellet Plant in Kalinganagar in the next 12 months. Both these projects are margin expansionary and are very high IRR projects.” The company has also restarted the work on the upstream expansion in Kalinganagar.
In addition, the steel maker wants to strike an optimal balance between capital expenditure and debt repayment.
Tata Steel Group completed deleveraging of net debt by Rs 29,390 crore (~$4 billion) in FY 2020-21, surpassing the annual deleveraging target of $1 billion. “As a result, its net debt-to-EBITDA ratio has dropped to a healthy 2.4 in FY 2020-21, from 5.8 in FY 2019-20 and 3.2 in FY 2018-19. This success has enabled us to continue critical capital expenditure focussed on India, including the ongoing Pellet plant and Cold Roll Mill commissioning at Tata Steel Kalinganagar. Once completed, these investments will help expand margins by boosting value-added products into the existing mix,” N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons said.
Tata Steel is also in the process to amalgamate the business of Tata Steel BSL into Tata Steel. “We have obtained the approval of shareholders on the scheme of amalgamation and are now working towards obtaining the necessary statutory approvals. It is important to mention that since acquisition, Tata Steel BSL has reduced its leverage significantly by ~60% and therefore has significantly paid back the acquisition cost. We are also focussing on enhancing our footprint in the long products and the mining business,” the annual report quoted T V Narendran Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director and Koushik Chatterjee, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer as saying this.
The process to reorganise their European portfolio, including the separation of Tata Steel Netherlands and Tata Steel UK businesses, is in progress. “This will lead to more focus, higher performance accountability and optimise the global footprint. The Transformation Programme aimed at improving productivity and rationalisation of costs has started delivering in the last year and we expect to accelerate it further in the year ahead.”
