Brexit ‘crisis’ drags Tata Motors profits

MUMBAI: Indian carmaker Tata Motors, the owner of Jaguar Land Rover, said yesterday “Brexit uncertainty” in Britain had affected overall quarterly profits as its earnings came in well below analysts’ expectations.

The Mumbai-based manufacturer reported an almost 13-fold increase in quarterly profits year-on-year owing to strong JLR sales in China and a particularly low earnings report 12 months ago due to the effect of a shock Indian banknote ban. Tata Motors said consolidated net profit for the three months ending December was 11.99 billion rupees ($187.15 million), up from 937.7 million rupees a year earlier when Indians were dealing with the fallout of demonetization. A survey of 15 analysts by Bloomberg News had predicted profits of 23.5 billion rupees this time around.

The car giant said concerns over soaring oil prices and a weaker showing in Western markets, including in Britain, had limited the extent of the increase.

“China and overseas markets were up while the UK, US and European markets were lower, reflecting more challenging conditions with cyclical weakness in the UK and US, increasing diesel uncertainty in the UK and Europe, and Brexit uncertainty in the UK,” Tata Motors said in a statement.

It said Jaguar Land Rover deliveries to North America had declined by 2.4 percent and by 3.4 percent to Europe. But JLR chief executive officer Ralf Speth gave an optimistic forecast for the future.

“This is a milestone year for Jaguar Land Rover as we prepare to launch our first ever electric car, the Jaguar I-Pace, and Range Rover plug-in hybrids,” Speth said in the statement. “We expect a stronger allaround performance in the fourth quarter driven by new models, seasonality, and improved profitability.”

Shares in Tata Motors, part of the sprawling tea-to-steel conglomerate, rose 3.12 percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange yesterday. A year ago the company reported a 96 percent fall in quarterly profits after the Indian government’s decision to scrap more than 80 percent of the country’s banknotes sent consumer sentiment into a tailspin.