MUMBAI, India, May 12 – India’s Tata Motors reported better-than-expected profits for the first three months of the year on Friday, boosted by a strong performance at its British subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover and sales in the domestic market.
The Mumbai-headquartered automaker posted a net profit of 54.08 billion rupees ($658 million), compared to a net loss of 10.33 billion rupees in the same period last year.
It was its second straight profitable quarter, prompting the passenger and commercial vehicle maker to declare its first dividend in almost seven years — two rupees per share.
Analysts polled by Indian broadcaster CNBC-TV18 had tipped net profit to come in at 46.85 billion rupees.
The January to March period is the fourth quarter of the company’s accounting year and its annual profits were 24.14 billion rupees, against a huge 114.4 billion rupees loss the previous year, on revenues of 3.46 trillion rupees.
Total revenue from operations for Q4 reached 1.06 trillion rupees, up 35 percent, aided by hikes in passenger vehicle prices.
“The year ended on a strong note with all automotive verticals delivering robust performances leading to multiple all-time high achievements,” Tata Motors’ chief financial officer P.B. Balaji said in a statement.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) saw revenues rise to £7.1 billion ($8.9 billion) for the quarter, up 49 percent year-on-year, on sales volumes 24 percent higher.
Britain’s biggest carmaker said it expected “gradual improvements” in chip supplies to continue.
Revenues from Tata Motors’ commercial vehicle business rose by 14.6 percent for the period, with passenger vehicle revenues up 15.3 percent.
Shares in Tata Motors closed 0.78 percent higher in Mumbai trading ahead of the earnings announcement.
