Tata Engineering posts Rs 500-crore loss

Our Corporate Bureau

Mumbai, June 14: Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company Ltd has posted a loss of Rs 500.34 crore for the year ended March 31, 2001 as against a net profit of Rs 71.20 crore in the previous year. The board has not recommended a dividend for the year in view of the losses incurred.

According to a press release, while net sales suffered a drop of Rs 694.12 crore at Rs 8,095.79 crore as against Rs 8,789.91 crore, total expenditure stood at Rs 7,666.35 crore as against Rs 8,175.37 crore last year. The Telco scrip opened at Rs 73.20 and closed at Rs 71.25 on Thursday on the BSE.

Profit before interest, depreciation and amortisation stood at Rs 497.87 crore as against Rs 785.77 crore last year. While gross interest amounted to Rs 498.91 crore as against Rs 539.06 crore, amortisation of deferred revenue expenditure and depreciation stood at Rs 137.36 crore and Rs 347.37 crore respectively. The company incurred a high amortisation charge of Rs 54.74 crore and extraordinary charges of Rs 69.90 crore as against an extraordinary gain of Rs 134.34 crore last year.

However, the figures for the year ended March 31, 2001 which have been regrouped are not strictly comparable to the current year figures due to the fact that the figures for the previous year include the financial results of the company’s machine tool and growth division at Pune and its gear box and axle division at Jamshedpur which were transferred to its three subsidiary companies on March 30, 2000. Besides, it has also been stated that with respect to the Indica project, pre-production interest and expenses and lower charge of depreciation on account of full commissioning of the plant on September 26, 1999 aggregating Rs 135.53 crore were capitalised in the year ended March 31, 2001.

Other income for the company included profit on sale of investments which figured at Rs 42 crore as against Rs 127.19 crore last year. During the year, the company intensified its efforts in the areas of cost reduction, quality enhancement and manpower rationalisation achieving a total cost saving of Rs 255 crore and an additional Rs 41 crore in gross interest outflow through tighter control on inventories and receivables. The Indica V2 launched in January 2001 has been highly successful and the company believes this would have a positive impact in the years ahead. Tata Sumo regained its position as the largest selling multi utility brand in the country. In the commercial vehicle market, the company launched a 25-tonne truck, which is now the largest selling in its category, said the press release. The company’s exports showed a growth of 19 per cent over the previous year and accounted for nine per cent of the total sales turnover.