Tata earnings driven by Jaguar Land Rover
A STRONG performance at Jaguar Land Rover helped car giant Tata Motors post rising quarterly profits and revenues yesterday.
Sales at JLR jumped 34.4 per cent in the three months to the end of June compared to a year ago, as the British firm shifted 83,452 units.
China was the main driver of growth, with sales nearly doubling on last year to account for almost a quarter of total volume, though margins fell slightly to 14.5 per cent.
“China is strong, especially strong for the luxury market,” said Ralf Speth, chief executive of JLR. “We have a very low market share in China …therefore we are sure we can continue this growth.”
Pre-tax profit for JLR rose 32.7 per cent to £333m, helped by favourable exchange rates as well as improved demand.
JLR also announced its first dividend since being acquired by Tata in 2008, when the firm was struggling for survival.
Tata Motors’ overall revenues rose 30.1 per cent to 433.2bn rupees (£5.1bn), while profit before tax rose 36 per cent – both coming in ahead of analyst forecasts. Around 90 per cent of the group’s profits were generated by JLR.