Tata Motors

Today, when we look at the numbers of Tata Motors, one cannot help but wonder where the company would have been but for the takeover of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). The entire performance has become more about JLR and less about its own vehicles in the domestic market. Passenger cars, especially in these times of poor demand and increased competition seems to taking a beating consistently. The company ended Q1Fy14, with a consolidated net sales of Rs.46,751 crore, up 8% on a YoY. But higher operating costs, at 92% of total income and increased interest outgo and forex loss dented the bottomline. It ended the quarter with a net profit at Rs.1726 crore, down 23% YoY and even sharper decline sequentially by over 50%.

If we look at the pure breakup of revenue only from domestic and JLR, the total comes to Rs.46,502 crore of which in current Q1, 76% revenue came in from JLR, up from the share of 72% YoY. And consolidated EBIT came in at Rs.3840 crore, of which 95% or Rs.3644 crore came from JLR. Tata  domestic EBIT was at just Rs.195 crore. This indicates how Tata Motors is actually more JLR and less Tata Motors. The company’s interest outgo for the quarter was at Rs.948 crore compared to Rs.804 crore in previous Q1. Forex loss stood at Rs.179 crore. Its gross debt at end of FY13 was at Rs.53,591 crore.

Looking ahead, the domestic scenario for Tata Motors continues to remain weak. July month sales fell 2% (MoM) with commercial vehicles declining 1.5% and passenger cars falling 8%. Exports were the only segment in the positive, up 8% at 4277 units.