Tata Motors zips past Street in grand profit prix

The Street had forecasted profit of ₹7,200 crore for the March quarter. Revenue for the three-month period climbed 13%YoY to ₹1.19 lakh crore in line with market consensus of ₹1.2 lakh crore.

For the full year ended March 31, the maker of Nexon and Safari SUVs delivered record profit and revenue, buoyed by strong by as well as its domestic passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle businesses.

JLR generated net profit of 2.5 billion in . This is equivalent to what Tata Motors paid to acquire the marquee brands in 2008 from .

Tata Motors continued on the path of deleveraging, helping lower net to Rs 16,000 crore in FY24 from Rs 43,700 crore in the previous year.

"The India business is now debt-free, and we are on track to become net automotive on a consolidated basis in FY25," P.B. Balaji, chief financial officer, , told reporters in a post-earnings call.

On JLR, Balaji said he expects demand to stay consistent this fiscal. However, he added that there's some stress building in the for JLR which needs to be addressed. It expects the US market to continue to do well.

"Overall, it's going to be calmer waters for JLR but at a very high level of performance - it's not that things are slowing down. We had a very steep climb this year and we want to maintain it at that level and take it forward from there," Balaji told ET.

As part of the 'Reimagine' strategy, all Jaguar cars and six out of every 10 Land Rover models will go by 2030 as the UK subsidiary of Tata Motors ditches the combustion engine in favour of the zero-emission technology.

"Also, we have a change in portfolio coming through as the entire 'Reimagine' strategy plays out. Hence there will be a churn. That's why we want to first consolidate our gains," Balaji added.

Tata Motors consolidated revenue in FY24 rose 26% to Rs 4.37 lakh crore -- equivalent to the total annual revenue of India's passenger car industry and about 45% of Reliance Industries. The previous highest revenue for Tata Motors was Rs 3.02 lakh crore in FY19.

Revenue has been rising steadily at the Tata group company over the last three years, advancing 6.5% annually in the past decade.

Tata Motors delivered record consolidated net profit of Rs 31,807 crore in the last financial year --11 times of the previous year -- thanks to a deferred tax credit of Rs 8,700 crore.

Consolidated revenue got a lift from JLR that posted record annual sales of 28.99 billion pounds last fiscal, a growth of 27% thanks to volumes surging 25% to more than 400,000 vehicles. Steady focus on improving cost efficiency and reducing overheads has augured well for the company resulting in expansion of operating profit margin (EBIT) by 610 basis points to 8.5%.

The board of directors recommended a final dividend of Rs 3 per ordinary share and Rs 3.10 per A ordinary share and a special dividend of Rs 3 per ordinary share and Rs 3.10 per A ordinary share subject to shareholder approval.

In its home market of India, Tata Motors' truck business clocked highest-ever revenue of Rs 78,800 crore with growth of 11% as a richer mix and pricing actions helped drive realisation per vehicle, offsetting a 4% drop in global wholesale volumes. This strategy paid off, lifting margins by 340 basis points to 10.8%, delivering about $1 billion in operating profit.

Passenger car business revenue grew 9.4% to Rs 52,400 crore in FY24, equivalent to about 40% of car market leader Maruti Suzuki's annual revenue although Tata Motors has only 14% share of the domestic market.

Commenting on lacklustre electric passenger vehicle demand month-on-month in the domestic market, Balaji conceded that the early adopters have receded from the market though Tata Motors is not concerned as the carmaker finds it a normal trend.

"We will easily be able to cross the 100,000-unit mark in the current year," he said. The company is retailing 3,000 units of the recently launched electric Punch small SUV and expects overall EV volume to accelerate further with the launch of the Curvv model later this year, he said.