Tata Motors rides on JLR exuberance

Tata Motors is the top gainer on the BSE, the moment the market opened for trading. From a close of Rs.447.40 yesterday, the stock opened today at Rs.481.20, going on to Rs.484, tantalizingly close to its 52-week high of Rs.488.

The company posted a super duper set of numbers for Q1FY15. On a 38% (YoY) rise in consolidated net revenue at Rs.64,683 crore, the company’s net profit more than tripled to Rs.5398 crore and this was mainly on account of very good sales from its JLR unit in UK. The market is especially celebrating the fact that its EBITDA margin, YoY, expanded 390 bps at 17.2%. This performance of JLR becomes all the more magnified when we look at the standalone numbers which is just the India unit and it has shown a steep 79% drop in net profit.

On the other hand, JLR showed a 30% rise in revenue with a 22% rise in retail volumes. Europe showed a double digit growth with other regions like US, Middle East and North Africa also showing signs of pick-up in demand. The company is today launching a new car – Zest in Mumbai. It’s a compact sedan and the company is hoping that Zest will help it recoup at least some of its lost market share.