Tata Steel posts net profit of Rs 1,003 crore

Business

oi-Religare

By Anita

Published: Wednesday, February 16, 2011, 16:30 [IST]

New Delhi, Feb 16: It was result time and Tata Steel have something to cheer about as they announced a net profit of Rs 1,003 crore for the third quarter of 2010-11. This is a unprecedented hike of 112 per cent over last years figure of Rs.473 crore. The turnover stands at Rs.29,089 crore from Rs.26,202 crore at the corresponding time a year-ago.

Karl-Ulrich Kohler, the MD & CEO of Tata Steel Europe said, “Higher raw material costs and seasonal factors adversely affected our December quarter. The impact of the raw material costs is acute as barely any steelmaker in the world is fully integrated. Managing the raw material situation is the key challenge for all steel makers."

Kaushik Chatterjee, CFO, Tata Steel claimed that the company's target of 6.4 million tonnes production in 2011 still remains as is. He added that the major challenge would be the procurement of raw materials.

Kaushik also commented on the company's net debt position and said, “We had taken debt to get the key projects done like the Jamshedpur one of $3.8 billion or Rs.16,000 crore. We had estimated Rs.11,000 crore of debt and the rest being equity contributed. But now that will be reversed that estimate and of the Rs.7,000 crore already spent, Rs.1,000 crore has been debt funded."

Tata Steel Managing Director H. M. Nerurkar has been quoted as saying, “The performance of the Indian operations in the third quarter, in spite of inflationary concerns, continued to be robust on the back of improved product mix and efficiency enhancement measures."

Tata Steel is on the expansion track with a target of three-million-tonne project that will be commissioned in late 2011.

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