NEW DELHI: Tata Motors on Monday reported a consolidated loss of Rs 9,894.25 crore for the quarter ended March 2020. The struggling company had posted a consolidated profit of Rs 1,117.5 crore in the same quarter the previous fiscal and a Rs 1,738.3 crore profit in the quarter ended December 31, 2019.
According to the auto-maker, its subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover’s fourth quarter results were significantly impacted by the pandemic’s effect on China, while in India, demand had been adversely impacted by a general economic slowdown even before the pandemic reached Indian shores.
Other factors which impacted the company’s performance in the quarter included the transition to BS-VI and liquidity stress.
TataMotors’ luxury brand and main cash cow JLR reported a loss of 501 million pounds before taxes, while Tata’s standalone India business reported a loss Rs 4,871 crore for the quarter—singnificantly higher than what was estimated by analysts. Shares of Tata Motors fell 4.56 per cent on Monday on the BSE and the stock has already lost 43 per cent of its value year-to-date.
Guenter Butschek, CEO and MD, Tata Motors, said, “Disappointingly, even with our relentless focus on retail acceleration, ‘Mission Zero’ on BSIV inventory and stringent cost reduction initiatives, we have not been able to mitigate the impact on our financials.” Ralf Speth, JLR Chief Executive, added, “In China, we are beginning to see recovery in vehicle sales and customers are returning to our showrooms. Our operational fitness gives me confidence that we can weather this storm.”
Consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 62,492.96 crore, down by 27.7 percent year-on-year. Standalone business fell 48 per cent to Rs 9,733 crore while JLR’s revenue declined 24 per cent during the quarter YoY.
Tata Motors also warned that sales in Q1FY21 is expected to be significantly weaker for both JLR and TML, with the full impact of lockdown set to reflect on the results.