India's largest car maker by revenue said net profit rose to 20.75 billion rupees ($381 million) in July-September from 18.77 billion rupees a year ago, while revenue increased 20 percent to 434.03 billion rupees on rising demand at its key Jaguar Land Rover subsidiary.

Analysts expected profit of 24.41 billion rupees on revenue of 441.91 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The operating margin for its India business fell to 5.9 percent for the quarter down from 7.2 percent in the year ago period. Tata Motors' Chief Financial Officer C. Ramakrishnan said that the company expected to improve its India profit margins, as it continues to focus on cutting operational costs, but the demand outlook was clouded by the slowing economic growth.

We continue to see sluggish economic activity, he said. We continue to see demand pressure in the market.

Tata Motors, which depends on JLR for 90 percent of the group's profit, said the iconic British brand's operating margin stood at 14.8 percent in July-September, down from 14.9 percent a year earlier.

Revenue at the luxury British brand rose 12.8 percent to 3.29 billion pounds in the period, less than the 34.4 percent gain seen in the previous quarter.

Tata has grown dependent on JLR, which it bought for $2.3 billion in 2008, as domestic sales of its own models struggle.

JLR's recent success has also driven Tata's stock price 50 percent higher over the past 12 months.

Profit from the company's Tata-branded Indian business, which had fallen for four straight quarters, rose nearly eight-fold to 8.67 billion rupees. That was mainly because the company took an exceptional charge in the year-earlier quarter.

Domestic sales of Tata's own brand of cars and trucks have sagged due to India's cooling economy.

Tata also faces strong competition in India from global carmakers such as Ford Motor Co and Volkswagen AG and truck manufacturers such as Daimler AG as they scale up operations in the company's backyard.

Shares in Tata Motors ended 0.9 percent higher ahead of earnings announcement at 269.35 rupees, while the main Mumbai market index closed 0.5 percent higher.

($1 = 54.4350 Indian rupees)

Tata Motors profit up 10 pct on Jaguar Land Rover

(AP) Tata Motors reported a 10 percent rise in quarterly net profit Wednesday, as the strong global performance of Jaguar Land Rover masked lackluster results from Tata's core brand.

Net profit was 21.0 billion rupees ($387 million) in the July to September quarter. Sales rose 19 percent from a year earlier to 441.1 billion rupees ($8.1 billion), thanks to strong demand for Jaguar Land Rover vehicles, especially in China, which now accounts for over 20 percent of global sales.

The numbers lagged estimates. Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast net income of 24.1 billion rupees for the quarter.

Jaguar Land Rover paid a maiden dividend to Tata Motors of 150 million pounds ($240 million). This extraordinary income swung Tata Motors from a loss to a standalone net profit of 8.7 billion rupees ($160 million), up from 1.0 billion rupees a year ago.

Demand for vehicles in India has been hit by poor macroeconomic conditions, which hurt Tata's mainstay commercial vehicle sales especially hard, as well as by rising fuel and tax rates and high interest rates. Tata has also been spending on developing new models and marketing even as price pressures intensify in India's cost-conscious market.

Sales of Tata vehicles rose 5.8 percent from a year earlier to 223,655 vehicles, while wholesale sales of Jaguar Land Rover vehicles jumped 14 percent to 77,442 vehicles.

Tata Motors Q2 net up 10.5% to Rs 2,075 cr

PTI

Tata Motors today posted a 10.5 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,075 crore for the second quarter ended September 30.

The Tata Group company's post-tax profit for the corresponding July-September period last year had stood at Rs 1,877 crore.

During the reporting period, there was a 19.9 per cent rise in consolidated revenues (net of excise) at Rs 43,403 crore, it said in a statement.

However, on a standalone basis which represents its domestic operations, the revenues dipped to Rs 12,481 crore as compared to the year-ago period's Rs 12,954 crore, it said.

The company's operating margin also slipped to 5.9 per cent from the 7.2 per cent in the year ago period.

"Weak macro-economic outlook and sluggish industrial demand coupled with diesel price increases, have impacted M&HCV (medium and heavy commercial vehicles) sales," the statement said.

A healthy jump in receipt of dividend from JLR and other subsidiaries (Rs 1,312 crore versus last year's Rs 29 crore) resulted in the standalone profit after tax jumping to Rs 867 crore from Rs 102 crore.

Sales of commercial vehicles grew 4.8 per cent to 136,353 units during the quarter while passenger vehicle sales increased 11.6 per cent to 72,603 units, its statement said.

The marquee Jaguar Land Rover, bought by the company a few months before the start of the credit crisis in 2008 for USD 2.3 billion, witnessed a healthy jump in net profit at GBP 305 million from the year ago period's GBP 172 million.

"Continued strong revenue and operating performance were supported by favourable market mix, exchange rate environment and was partially offset by the model mix," the statement said, adding that the pre-tax profit of GBP 431 million included GBP 67 million in foreign exchange gains on revaluation and hedging. The British company's wholesales (derived by adding sales of the Jaguar sedans and Land Rover SUVs) grew 13.9 per cent to 77,442 units while the revenues were up 12.8 per cent at GBP 3.288 billion.

The Tata Motors scrip closed the session with a 0.45 per cent gain to Rs 269.25 a piece at the BSE, whose 30-share benchmark Sensex was up 0.45 per cent.

The company also announced that Tata Sons' chairman designate Cyrus Mistry as its deputy chairman. He will take over as the chairman once the incumbent Ratan Tata retires in December 2012, a statement said.

Mistry has been on the board of the company since May 2012, the statement said, adding that its former Managing Director Ravi Kant has also stepped down as director of JLR.

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