Date:01/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/01/stories/2008080155791700.htm

Business

Tata Steel Q1 profit at Rs. 1,488 cr.

MUMBAI: Tata Steel has posted a net profit of Rs. 1,488.40 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, as compared to Rs. 1,222.11 crore in the year-ago period.

The operating profit stood at Rs. 2,733.38 crore against Rs. 1,845.29 crore during the period under reference. Total income has increased to Rs. 6,177.25 crore from Rs. 4,305.33 crore.

The results do not include that of Corus for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, and they would be published by the end of August.

The company has taken into account the notional exchange loss of Rs. 303.42 crore which included unrealised translation loss of Rs. 254.19 crore on convertible alternative reference securities (CARS) issued in September 2007.

CARS liability has been translated at the exchange rate as on June 2008.

The proceeds of CARS were utilised to eventually fund the company’s investment in the acquisition of Corus Group plc., the earnings of which were in foreign currency and would consequently mitigate the risk of exchange fluctuations.

Tata Steel and its wholly owned subsidiary, Rawmet Ferrous Industries, had entered into an agreement with Jasper Industries Pvt. Ltd. to set up a coal based power plant of 2x67.5 MW capacity in Orissa.