Group Performance Highlights:
1. TATA Steel Group recorded Profit after tax (after minority interest and share of profit of associates) of INR 4,956 crores (USD934 million) during the first nine months of the financial year 2011-12 (9M FY’12) compared to a profit of INR 4,807 crores (USD906 million) in the first nine months of the financial year 2010-11 (9M FY’11). The Group registered a net loss of INR 603 crores (USD 114 million) in Q3 FY’12 compared to a net profit of INR 1,003 crores (USD 189 million) in Q3 FY’11.
2. Group EBITDA in 9M FY’12 was INR 13,242 crores (USD 2.5 billion) compared to INR 12,399 crores (USD 2.34 billion) in 9M FY’11. EBITDA in Q3 FY’12 came in at INR 1,940 crores (USD 366 million) compared to INR 3,374 crores (USD 636 million) recorded in Q3 FY’11.
3. Group consolidated turnover in 9M FY’12 was INR 98,901 crores (USD 18.64 billion), up from the INR 84,929 crores (USD 16.01 billion) recorded in 9M FY’11. The consolidated turnover for Q3 FY’12 was INR 33,103 crores (USD 6.24 billion) compared to the INR 29,089 crores (USD 5.48 billion) in Q3 FY’11.
4. The Group’s steel deliveries in 9M FY’12 rose by 0.8% to 18.01 million tonnes compared to 17.86 million tonnes in 9M FY’11. Steel deliveries in Q3 FY’12 fell slightly to 5.84 million tonnes from 5.9 million tonnes in Q3 FY’11.
5. Net debt at the end of December 2011 was INR 50,528 crores (USD 9.52 billion) compared to INR 46,627 crores (USD 8.79 billion) at the end of March 2011.
6. Turnover in Tata Steel India in 9M FY’12 increased by 16.1% to INR 24,454 crores (USD 4.61 billion) from INR 21,056 crores (USD 3.97 billion) in 9M FY’11. Q3 FY’12 sales of INR 8,382 crores (USD 1.58 billion) were up by 13.3% from the INR 7,397 crores (USD 1.39 billion) of Q3 FY’11 and up 2.1% from the INR 8,212 crores (USD 1.55 billion) of Q2 FY’12.
EBITDA in 9M FY’12 at INR 9,053 crores (USD 1.71 billion) was slightly down by 1.1% from INR 9,158 crores (USD 1.73 billion) in the previous year. Q3 FY’12 EBITDA of `2,604 crores
(USD 491 million) was down by 8% from the INR 2,832 crores (USD 534 million) of Q3 FY’11 and down by 6.8% from the INR 2,793 crores (USD 526 million) of Q2 FY’12. The 9M FY’12 EBITDA margin was nevertheless healthy at 37%.
7. Turnover in Tata Steel Europe in in 9M FY’12 increased by 18.9% to INR 62,230 crores (USD 11.73 billion) from the INR 52,356 crores (USD 9.87 billion) in 9M FY’11. Q3 FY’12 sales of INR 20,535 crores (USD 3.87 billion) were 17.2% up from the INR 17,523 crores (USD 3.3 billion) of Q3 FY’11, but down 3.0% from the `21,160 crores (USD 3.99 billion) of Q2 FY’12.
EBITDA for 9M FY’12 came in at INR 1,631 crores (USD 308 million), down by 37.9% from INR 2,626 crores (USD 495 million) in 9M FY’11. There was an EBITDA loss of INR 781 crores (USD 147 million) in Q3 FY’12 compared to positive EBITDA of INR 392 crores (USD 74 million) in Q3 FY’11 and INR 505 crores (USD 95 million) in Q2 FY’12. The Q3 FY’12 loss was mainly due to mark-to-market provisions on stock.
9. The 2.9 million tonne per annum Brownfield expansion in Jamshedpur is expected to be commissioned in Q4 FY’12.
Mr HM Nerurkar MD of TATA Steel said that “Our Indian operations delivered steady performance during the last quarter, with flat product volumes increasing 3% year on year. Long product volumes dropped marginally due to planned shutdowns, but we increased our market reach, recording our highest ever quarterly retail long products sales. Company wide cost saving measures benefitted margins in an otherwise difficult market. We expect steel demand to improve on expectations of the RBI relaxing monetary policy to aid growth and investment. An improvement in operating performance, coupled with a number of new marketing initiatives, should increase profitability at the South East Asian operations.”
Dr Karl Ulrich Köhler MD & CEO of Tata Steel Europe said that “The December quarter marked the height of the cyclical cost price squeeze. TATA Steel was one of the first steel companies in Europe last year to start adjusting its output and configuration to the slowdown in the recovery. The turnaround program in our Long Products business is well on course for completion by the end of the financial year, as planned. Similar measures have been taken elsewhere in the Company, most recently at some of our tubes operations in the Netherlands and the UK. Through our Step Up & Save initiative we are accelerating cash conservation in expectation of muted but stable demand in our core markets in 2012.”
