Tata Steel loses some sheen

Tata Steel opened a tad weaker, currently down over 1.5%  at Rs.527 with an intra day low at Rs.525.20.

The stock is down as for Q1FY15 it posted a very disappointing set of numbers with its consolidated net profit falling by a huge 70% at Rs.337 crore and this was despite the much better than expected 11% rise in total income at Rs.36,427 crore. Operating profit rose 16% at Rs.4272 crore while OPM came in at 11.73%, up 53 bps.

Net profit for the quarter was impacted by an exceptional loss of Rs.262 crore, a three times surge in tax outgo at Rs.1080 crore and a 26% jump in interest costs at Rs.1252 crore. The exceptional loss was after provision for impairment of non-current assets at Rs 1,577 crore and profit from sale of non-core investments worth Rs 1,314.2 crore.

On the other hand, standalone net profit rose 67% at Rs.2268 crore and this was the exact opposite of the consolidated numbers wherein here, an exceptional gain of Rs.788 crore, which was from a stake sale in Dharma Port Company.