Tata Motors Profit Unexpectedly Climbs on Accounting Change
By Vipin V. Nair
July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Tata Motors Ltd., the Indian truck maker that owns Jaguar and Land Rover, unexpectedly reported a 58 percent jump in profit after asset sales and a change in accounting helped mask a slump in vehicle sales.
Net income totaled 5.14 billion rupees ($107 million) in the three months ended June, compared with 3.26 billion rupees a year ago, Mumbai-based Tata Motors said in a statement today. That topped the 994 million rupees median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts. The earnings don’t include the Jaguar and Land Rover luxury units, which Tata bought last year.
Profit included a gain of 3.19 billion rupees from selling long term investments, the company said. The $2.5 billion acquisition of the U.K.-based luxury units pushed the company to its first consolidated loss in at least seven years. Chairman Ratan Tata introduced the Nano, the world’s cheapest car, this month to spur sales.
“There are signs of a possible recovery,” said Sapna Jhaveri, a Mumbai-based analyst at K.R. Choksey Shares and Securities Pvt., who has a ‘buy’ raging on Tata Motors. “The volumes from Nano will kick in from the second half of this year. The government’s spending on infrastructure will also help the commercial vehicles.”
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