What is your quick response to the quarterly numbers of Tata Steel for Dec-21 quarter?

For the Dec-21 quarter, steel major Tata Steel reported 44.95% growth in sales at Rs.60,783 crore on a yoy consolidated basis. However, on a sequential basis, the revenues were flat, growing at just about 0.66%. For the December 2021 quarter, the production of crude steel from the India operations of Tata Steel increased 4% yoy and 2% sequentially to 4.81 MT.

What is more interesting is that the sales to automobile OEMs remained steady despite 9% cut in auto production amidst microchip shortage. Europe revenues were up 56% yoy and 7% sequentially at GBP2.25 billion. Tata Steel spent Rs.2,790 cr as capital expenditure at Kalinganagar plant in Odisha. Gross debt as of Dec-21 increased to Rs.72,603 crore.

Operating profits for the Dec-21 quarter were up 64.3% at Rs.15,853 crore. EBITDA of India business was up 41.7% at Rs.12,434 crore, although the India steel EBITDA was lower sequentially due to higher operating costs. Tata Steel India and Tata Steel Europe contributed the bulk of EBITDA growth. Operating margins improved sharply from 23.02% in the Dec-20 quarter to 26.08% in the Dec-21 quarter. OPM was 144 bps lower sequentially.

Net Profits for Dec-21 quarter increased by 158.92% at Rs.9,573 crore due to the robust operating performance transmitted to bottom line. Apart from core gains, Tata Steel also reported sharply higher gains from associates and joint ventures in Dec-21 quarter. PAT margins nearly doubled from 8.82% in Dec-20 quarter to 15.75% in Dec-21 quarter. On a sequential basis, the PAT margins were lower by 400 bps.