Shares of Tata Motors plunged over 5% in Wednesday’s early trade after the home-grown auto major on Tuesday reported a consolidated net loss at Rs 7,585 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2021. It had posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 9,864 crore in the January-March period of 2019-20.
The scrip traded 5.12% down at Rs 315.35 at around 9.23 am (IST), while the benchmark BSE Sensex was down 92 points, or 0.19%, at 50,100 at around the same time.
The auto major’s total income in the fourth quarter stood at Rs 89,319 crore. It was at Rs 63,057 crore in the year-ago quarter.
The company’s British arm, Jaguar Land Rover reported a pre-tax loss of 952 million pounds for the quarter owing to the 1.5 billion pounds of exceptional charges, including 952 million pounds of non-cash write-downs of prior investments and 534 million pounds of restructuring charges expected to be paid in FY’22.
This was on account of JLR’s new global strategy to ‘Reimagine’ the future of modern luxury by design and deliver double-digit EBIT margins by fiscal 2025/26.
However, JLR clocked a 20.5% increase in revenue at 6.5 billion pounds during the quarter led by China and the new Defender model. Retail sales in the fourth quarter were 1,23,483 units, up 12.4 per cent year-on-year.
For FY’21, JLR revenue was at 19.7 billion pounds while retail sales were at 439,588 units, down 13.6 per cent.
Commenting on JLR’s performance, company chief executive officer Thierry Bollore said, “I have been encouraged by the company’s resilience and strong recovery during a uniquely challenging year. Despite the pandemic, this year has also seen significant positive change culminating in February with the launch of our Reimagine strategy focused on reimagining our iconic British brands for a future of modern luxury by design.”
On a standalone basis, Tata Motors reported net profit from continuing operations at Rs 1,645.69 crore. It had reported a loss from continuing operations at Rs 4,871.05 crore in the year-ago period.
Tata Motors’ standalone total income was at Rs 20,305.90 crore as against Rs 10,001.79 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. During the quarter, the company’s wholesales, including exports, grew by 90.2% to 1,95,859 units.
“The auto industry was deeply impacted by Covid-19 in FY21 but witnessed a steady growth in vehicle demand as the nationwide lockdown eased and pent-up demand came to fore supported by a steady recovery of the economy,” Tata Motors CEO and Managing Director Guenter Butschek said.
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