Tata Steel Q4 profit lifted by one-off U.K. pension gain

Tata Steel Ltd. was helped to a quarterly profit of ₹146.88 billion rupees by a one-off pensions gain, in contrast with a ₹11.68 billion loss a year earlier.

The Indian steelmaker on Wednesday reported an exceptional gain of ₹113.76 billion in the quarter ended March, including a non-cash gain of ₹140.77 billion relating to the restructuring of its British pension scheme.

Britain’s pensions regulator agreed last year to allow Tata Steel U.K. to cut pension scheme liabilities, the main stumbling block in Tata’s efforts to merge its European operations with Germany’s Thyssenkrupp.

In the same quarter last year, Tata Steel booked charges of ₹40.69 billion, including curtailment charges relating to the closure of Tata Steel Europe’s pension scheme.

Income from operations in the quarter rose 2.6% to ₹357.37 billion, the company said in a statement. It also reported a decline of about 5.9% in total steel deliveries for the fourth quarter, while domestic deliveries slipped 5.6% to 3.03 million tonnes.

“Tata Steel performance has been robust in FY18 driven by our strong execution strategy and supported by favourable global demand-supply balance,” T.V. Narendran, CEO and MD, said.

‘Good volume growth’

“During the year, our Indian operations delivered volume growth better than the market on the back of the ramp-up at our Kalinganagar plant and the strength of our marketing network and brand equity.”

Mr. Narendran said growth was broad-based across marketing segments and added Tata Steel Europe had a good quarter despite currency headwinds. “The 50:50 JV discussion with thyssenkrupp is progressing well,” he said.

(With PTI inputs)