Tata Steel reported a consolidated net loss of Rs. 3213.76 crore for the March quarter against a loss Rs. 5674.29 crore in the year ago period.
The loss came in wider than expected as the company took impairment charges and write downs of Rs. 2857.79 crore due to restructuring in UK and some purely performing investments overseas. Analysts were expecting a loss of Rs. 1027.08 crore on a revenue of Rs. 30337.51 crore, according to a Bloomberg poll. Net sales for the quarter fell 12.51% to Rs. 29164.37 crore.
Tata Steel sold 6.94 million tonnes (mt) of steel during the quarter versus 7.06 mt in the same quarter last year.
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation came at Rs. 3200 per tonne versus Rs. 2700 per tonne in the year ago period helped by a recovery in international steel prices and some support from recently implemented protectionist measures by the government. Tata Steel expects to sell a million tonne more steel in India as it ramps up Kalinganagar plant in Odisha. It has spent Rs. 3695 crore on the project of the total Rs. 11486 crore capital expenditure in the whole financial year.
The company expects a capital expenditure of less than Rs. 10000 crore in the current financial year. It had a consolidated net debt of Rs. 74000 crore as on March 31. Tata Steel said the sale process of its UK assets is on going with some bidders continue their due diligence while some have submitted their final bids.
"Some bids have come in and some have sought clarifications. Once we get them all we will review and rank them," said Koushik Chatterjee, group executive director for finance and corporate affairs. The steelmaker is urgently looking for a buyer amid continuous losses and poor demand in its UK business.
Source: Economic Times