The company turned around in Q1FY14, that was the only major positive in the numbers which otherwise were flat.  After the massive loss in Q4, the company turned around in current Q1 with a consolidated net profit at Rs.1139 crore v/s loss of Rs.6529 crore in Q4 and net profit of Rs.598 crore in Q1FY13.  Net revenue was actually down 5% (QoQ) and down 3% (YoY) at Rs.32,550 crore. Reduction in operating costs and deferred tax write back of Rs.415 crore helped shore the bottomlines. EBITDA was at Rs.3,755 crore, v/s Rs.4,368 crore in Q4  and Rs.3581 crore in previous Q1. But for the deferred tax write back, the company would have endedthe quarter with a much lower growth in net profit at Rs.724 crore.

Its Indian operations, like in Q4, did better than the rest. Deliveries at 2 million tones were up 26% due to the ramp up of capacity at Jamshedpur but sequential volumes were lower due to seasonal effects. YoY turnover rose 6%, with an EBIDTA margin of 30.6% v/s 29.3%  (QoQ).  In Europe, deliveries were at 3.14 million, lower on both QoQ as well as YoY due to lower demand. But what helped was the sequential rise in average realizations. Its e South East Asian operations were affected by a two-month shutdown for a plant upgrade in Singapore, which has since then resumed operations in August. The profitability was also affected by the sharply narrowing spread in the region.

In FY13, the company successfully implemented its 3mtpa brownfield expansion at Jamshedpur which increased its total capacity to 10mtpa. It is now embarking on its next phase of growth and is setting up a 6mtpa greenfield steel project in Odisha. A new subsidiary, Tata Steel Odisha, has been set up specifically for this project. The project will be implemented in 2 phases of 3mtpa each. It has also decided that it will not proceed with its greenfield steel project in Vietnam in the near future. Net debt at end of Q1FY14 stood at Rs.61,289 crore v/s Rs.55,421 crore at end of FY13. Cash and cash equivalents as at 30^th June 2013 was at Rs.10,178 crore. The massive debt and huge interest payout each qaurter of around Rs.900  crore is indeed a point to note too.