Tata Steel loses shine

Tata Steel is currently the biggest loser on the BSE, down 3% at Rs.379.25, with an intra day low at Rs.377.50.

The stock is down in the red as its net profit for Q3Fy14 came in much below analyst estimations and sequentially the numbers were much lower. Its consolidated net profit came in at Rs.503 crore compared to a net loss of Rs.763 crore in Q3FY13 though much lower than the net profit of Rs.917 crore it posted for Q2FY14. This QoQ drop was on account of flat topline and higher depreciation and finance costs.

Its Q3 FY14 turnover increased to Rs.36,736 crores from Rs.36,645 crores (QoQ) and Rs.32,107 crore (YoY). The company stated that its Indian operations maintained the steady performance despite weak macroeconomic environment and maintenance shutdowns at Jamshedpur. The operational improvement continued in Europe as the upgraded asset base produced the largest volume of liquid steel on a like-for-like basis for more than five years. The South East Asian operations were partly affected by the political instability at Thailand. However, the operations stabilised in Singapore while the facilities in China were ramped up.