Tata Sons Ltd net zooms 102 per cent to over Rs 5.53 billion in 1998-99
TATA Sons Ltd.
tata.com
tata.com
(Monday, July 19, 1999)/Business Standard
Rajarshi Roy in Mumbai
Tata Sons, the holding company for the Rs 45,000 crore ($10.5 billion) Tata group has reported 102 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 553.21 crore, for the 1998-1999 financial, up from Rs 273.63 crore reported by the company in the previous year.
A large chunk of the company's earnings is expected to have come from its software division, Tata Consultancy Services, which is one of the country's largest software houses.
It may be mentioned that the company, besides being the holding company for the 100-plus companies of the Tata group, also has five divisions -- Tata Consultancy Services(TCS), Tata Consulting Engineers, Tata Economic Consultancy Services, and Tata Quality Management Services.
The profit before tax for Tata Sons for the 1998-99 financial stood at Rs 585.21 crore up from Rs 293.63 crore in the previous year.
The company has declared a dividend of 200 per cent for the current year up from 150 per cent paid by the company in the previous year.
It may be mentioned that Tata Sons, at its AGM held on July 16, had ratified the appointment of the Tata group chairman Ratan N Tata, as the executive chairman of the company. Tata had earlier been a non-executive chairman of the company.
The company now has four executive directors, including chairman R N Tata. These include Ishaat Hussain, and R Gopalakrishnan who joined finance director N A Soonawala on the Tata Sons board recently. Previoulsly, Soonawala was the company's sole executive director.
Tata Sons' role as the group's holding company is being expanded significantly. Tata Sons total investment in the group operating companies presently standing at Rs 1,689.08 crore up from Rs 1164.19 crore last year. Its investments in the group companies is expected to go up even further.
The increase in the number of executive directors is a part of a new management structure being put in place in Tata Sons. As part of its newer role, Tata Sons, through the five member group executive office (GEO) which include the executive directors and group functional heads in finance and human resources, will interact more closely with the operating companies.
The basic objective of the GEO is to facilitate greater co-ordination between Tata Sons and the operating companies. The executive directors of Tata Sons will be a direct link through their appointment on the boards of various companies and the functional heads in finance and human resources will provide their respective expertise to the operating companies.
Tata Sons will also administer and monitor the Tata brand equity and business promotion scheme and the code of conduct under agreements with the respective operating companies.
The recently set up group finance committee and the group HR committee will comprise the group finance head and the group HR head together with a few selected senior executives who head these functions in some of the operating companies will act as a forum for strengthening and co-ordinating these functions in the interest of the group and the operating companies.
The group has also set up several business review committees which will be different from that of the HR and finance committees. The moves are expected to bring about greater co-ordination within the group with the companies benefiting from the combined strength resources and services available within the group. |
