Tata Steel Ltd. on Thursday reported first quarter consolidated net profit stood at ₹9,768.34 crore compared with the year-earlier period’s loss of ₹4,648.13 crore.Gross sales income was also more than doubled to ₹52,574.34 crore.
Gross debt decreased to ₹84,237 crore with debt repayment of ₹5,894 crore, the company said in a filing. Net debt declined to ₹73,973 crore, it said.
T.V. Narendran, CEO & MD, said, “Over the last 15 months, the global economy has been recovering driven by policy support and progressive vaccination which has led to improvement in business and customer confidence.”
“However, Indian markets were adversely impacted again during the last quarter due to the second wave of COVID-19 which impacted our steel production as well as deliveries. Demand has begun recovering in India, though domestic steel prices continue to be at a steep discount to China import parity prices,” he said.
“We continue to focus on our objective to attain and retain market leadership in chosen segments by building strong customer relationships, superior distribution network, rolling out brands and developing new products and solutions in steel and new materials,” he added.
Koushik Chatterjee, executive director and CFO, said, “Our consolidated financial performance for the quarter was exceptionally strong on the back of strong underlying business performance and buoyant market conditions.”
The profit after tax of ₹9,768 crore was higher than the full year PAT of financial year 2021, he said.
“While the India business has recorded an EBITDA of ₹13,946 crore, our European business also had an improved quarter, and the impact of rising spreads are expected to positively benefit in the coming quarters,” he added.
“We are committed to deleverage further and expect to bring down the debt significantly by the end of the current financial year. We continue to prioritise capex spend on ongoing projects and strategically essential investments,” he added.
The group liquidity position remains strong at ₹20,695 crore, including ₹10,264 crore of cash and cash equivalents, Mr. Chatterjee said.
