Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles (500570) Q4 99/00 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Total income rose 36% to Rs.8,963.02 crore; profit after tax fell to Rs.71.20 crore from Rs.97.46 crore, with Indica ramp-up costs weighing on operating profitability.

• Reported profit before tax included Rs.134.34 crore from business disposals; excluding this gain, the pre-extraordinary loss was Rs.59.14 crore.

Financial highlights

• Sales of products and other income were Rs.8,963.02 crore in FY1999-2000, versus Rs.6,593.95 crore in FY1998-99; reported PBT was Rs.75.20 crore.

• PAT was Rs.71.20 crore versus Rs.97.46 crore; proposed dividend fell to Rs.2.50 per share from Rs.3.00.

• Reported sales of products and services reached Rs.8,624.77 crore; manufacturing and other expenses were Rs.8,501.39 crore, depreciation Rs.342.61 crore and interest Rs.404.74 crore.

Outlook and guidance

• Indica project break-even was expected in the latter part of FY2000-01; overall Indica break-even was also expected during the current year.

• A wider passenger-car range was planned, including the Magna, targeted for commercialisation by 2002; management said a global carmaker alliance would be important to compete with international majors.

• FY2000-01 priorities included customer focus, product reliability, quality, cost reduction, capital-expenditure control and further working-capital reductions.