India-headquartered steel giant Tata Steel Group has issued its group financial results including Tata Steel Europe for the third quarter and the first nine months ended December 31 of the financial year 2013-14.
Tata Steel Group recorded a net profit of INR 5.03 billion ($80.9 million) in the third quarter, compared to a net loss of INR 7.63 billion in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. The group's third quarter sales amounted to INR 367.4 billion ($5.9 billion), increasing by 14.4 percent year on year.
In the first nine months, Tata Steel achieved a net profit of INR 25.6 billion ($411.8 million), compared to a net loss of INR 5.3 billion in the first nine months of the previous year. The company's sales revenues increased by six percent year on year to INR 1.06 trillion ($17.05 billion).
In the first nine months of the current financial year, steel deliveries of the group amounted to 18.9 million mt, increasing by 7.8 percent year on year, with deliveries from the European operations registering an annual growth of 1.45 percent and deliveries from the Indian operations rising 17 percent, compared to the corresponding period of the previous financial year.
Mr. T.V. Narendran, managing director of Tata Steel India and South East Asia, said that the Indian steel markets continued to remain weak during the December quarter with the economy and most of the steel-consuming sectors facing severe headwinds. Against this macro backdrop, Tata Steel continued to post steady growth in sales volume for the quarter and year to date. He added that the sales would have been higher if not for production constraints due to planned shutdowns for maintenance.
