OREANDA-NEWS. Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL), a global company with LIFE as its business - Living, Industry and Farm Essentials, reported an impressive 17% jump in its income from operation at Rs. 3847crores.

Key performance and financial highlights:

Standalone

Better volumes and realisations across most verticals

Soda Ash demand continues to be robust

Fertiliser sales - non bulk registers impressive growth

Consumer products business growth in line with expectation

Consolidated

European and Kenyan business restructuring on. Performance on expected lines.

Global soda ash demand continues to be positive. Better realisation at TCNA

Rallis India Q1 sales up by 14 % to Rs. 465 Crs / PAT at Rs.37 Crs

Financial Highlights for the Q1 FY15:

Standalone

Income from Operations at Rs. 2116 Crs

Profit from Operations at Rs.279 Crs

PBT at Rs. 231 Crs

PAT at Rs.170 Crs

EPS at Rs.6.65 (Not Annualised)

Consolidated

Income from Operations at Rs. 3847 Crs

Profit from Operations at Rs. 504 Crs

PBT at Rs.315 Crs

PAT after minority interest at Rs. 176 Crs

EPS at Rs. 6.89 (Not Annualised)

Commenting on the Company's Q1FY15 performance, Mr. R Mukundan, Managing Director, Tata Chemicals, said:

“The quarter under review has been encouraging and we have started to see the positive impact of the painful yet inevitable restructuring exercise that had to be carried out to ensure viability and sustainability of our operations at UK and Magadi.Our Stand-alone revenue jumped by 28% to Rs. 2116 crs and net profit jumped by 69% to Rs. 170 crs due to Better realization and Better volumes in India across all the businesses. Better realization at Tata Chemicals North America took the consolidated revenue to Rs. 3847 Crs, a jump of 17% YoY basis. Net profit at consolidated level registered an impressive growth of 133% at Rs. 176Crs.

Consumer products business continues to grow consistently at the market place and currently Tata Salt is market leader with 57% share in the national branded edible salt market. i-Shakti pulses and Tata Swach reported healthy volumes and continues to grow steadily.

In the Fertisilier business, subsidy outstanding at Rs. 1687crs continues to drag performance. This coupled with delay in fertiliser policy implementation continues to impact the cash flow and urea profitability above cut off. We are hopeful of a solution to the fertiliser policy issue by next quarter end. In our farm essential portfolio, we expect DAP to be under pressure continuously due to higher raw material prices and lower realization. However, other non-bulk fertiliser products in the portfolio are expected to do well.

India is negatively impacted due to the ongoing monsoon. But with the current strengthening of the monsoon and expectation of deficit to reduce significantly, there are signs of cautious recovery and we hope this will help us cope with the pressure. We have very strong product brands like Tata Paras, Tata Kisan Sansar, Rallis brands and Dhanya which continue to enjoy the confidence of farmers and during the time of need is their first choice, and we will continue to work with Indian farmers to help them improve their productivity.

Tata Chemicals Europe restructuring is progressing as per plan and we aim to make the business cash neutral within this year. On the other hand, Tata Chemicals Magadi restructuring is completed and is also as per plan. Q2 results may have some impact of the restructuring expenses at Magadi.

Our focus on reshaping the portfolio to enhance the share of consumer product business and non-subsidized farm inputs business will continue in the coming years.”

Businesswise performance

Living Essentials

Tata Salt - market leader in the national branded salt segment with 57% market share. Salt demand growing at a steady pace

i-Shakti pulses and Tata Swach water purifier sales on expected lines

Tata Swach RO phased roll out continues and is supported by extensive print campaign

Industry Essentials

Global Soda Ash demand remained positive. Likely to grow at about 1.5% per annum

Domestic Soda Ash demand stable

Soda ash demand in Europe showing early signs of recovery

Magadi SAM volumes improve compared to previous year

Better realization at North America

Farm Essentials

Urea production in line with expectation

Neem coated urea accounted for 29% of total urea production for the Q1 FY15

SSP production in line with expectation

Rallis registered 14 % growth in sales in Q1

IMACID production and sales growing steadily