Tata Steel on Wednesday reported a 272% jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 3,102 crore on the back of better steel realisations and lower expenses aided by strategic cost transformation initiatives. Bloomberg analysts had estimated a net profit of Rs 2,740 crore. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 833 crore in the same period a year ago.
Revenue also came in ahead of the Bloomberg estimate of Rs 55,898 crore at Rs 58,689 crore and was up 8.9% year-on-year. “The global operating environment remained challenging with persistent overhang of tariffs, geopolitical tensions and elevated steel exports. Despite this, Tata Steel delivered a resilient performance with the Ebitda margin improving for the second consecutive quarter,” MD & CEO TV Narendran said in a statement.
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) at Rs 8,897 crore was also higher than Bloomberg estimates of Rs 8,185 crore, up 45%, while Ebitda margin was 15.2% (against 14% in Q1). “In India, while the crude steel production rose 8%, deliveries grew at a higher rate of 17% quarter-on-quarter as our marketing franchise enabled us to scale effectively. We continue to strengthen our market leadership across key segments, underpinned by capacity expansion and a focused downstream strategy,” he said.
As part of its strategy on downstream expansion, the steelmaker announced that it has executed a share purchase agreement with BlueScope Steel to acquire the balance 50% stake in Tata BlueScope Steel for a consideration of up to Rs 1,100 crore. The sale is subject to regulatory approvals.
Narendran said that the continuous annealing line and galvanising line at Tata Steel’s Kalinganagar facility have expanded its high-end product offerings to automotive and its new 0.5 MTPA combi mill will further amplify this advantage and strengthen presence in the specialty steel segment. “Our well-established retail brand, Tata Tiscon grew by 27% q-o-q and we continue to consolidate our position in engineering and construction solutions,” he said.
Koushik Chatterjee, chief financial officer, Tata Steel, said attributed the steel giant’s quarterly financial performance to operational strength and cost discipline. “For the quarter ended September 30, Ebitda margin improved by 145 bps q-o-q and 280 bps for the half year. This performance was underpinned by a sharp focus on cost transformation programme, which delivered around Rs 2,561 crore for the quarter and around Rs 5,450 crore for the half year,” he said.
At the start of the financial year, Tata Steel had outlined a cost take-out plan to result in Rs 11, 500-crore reduction in cost across operations in India, the UK, and Netherlands. The steelmaker clocked 7.91 million tonne in deliveries for the second quarter compared with 7.69 million tonne in the same quarter a year ago and 7.12 million tonne in the previous quarter.
Steel production was at 7.73 million tonne, up from 7.69 million tonne in the second quarter of FY25, and 7.33 million tonne in the previous quarter.
India revenue came in at Rs 34,787 crore, while Ebitda was Rs 8,654 crore, with an Ebitda margin of 25%. Crude steel production was at 5.65 million tonne and deliveries for the quarter came in at 5.55 million tonne, aided by domestic deliveries. India Ebitda per tonne decline by Rs 180 per tonne q-o-q at Rs 15,580 per tonne.
UK revenue were £505 million for the quarter and Ebitda loss stood at £66 million as against a loss of £41 million in Q1FY26. Deliveries stood at 0.57 million tonne and were marginally lower due to subdued demand. Netherlands revenues were €1,551 million for the quarter and Ebitda was €92 million compared to €64 million in the previous quarter. Liquid steel production was 1.67 million tonne and deliveries were 1.54 million tonne.
Capex for the quarter stood at Rs 3,250 crore and Rs 7,079 crore for the first half of the fiscal. Net debt at the end of the September quarter was Rs 87,040 crore (Rs 85, 835 crore in Q1), while operating cash flows before capex and dividend were at Rs 7,000 crore, the company said.
