Tata Motors registers a profit of rupees 6.5 billion in December quarter

Mumbai, Feb 27 (ANI): Tata Motors, one of India's top automobile manufacturers has reported a consolidated net profit of 6.5 billion rupees for the December quarter of 2009, after suffering a loss of 26 billion rupees last year.

Tata Motors registered net sales of 259.8 billion rupees for the December quarter.

The profit was boosted by rise in sales and margins at its Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unit in London as luxury buyers returned after the global crisis, helping send its shares up more than 6 percent.

Jaguar Land Rover turned profitable in the December quarter with a net profit of 4.17 billion rupees.

Jaguar Land Rover Vice-Chairman Ravi Kant said, "Jaguar Land Rover has made a profit. It is quite a substantial profit of 55 million pounds which is equivalent to (rupees) 4,400 crores. It is a big turnaround which has happened as far as Jaguar Land Rover is concerned and we do hope to continue on this path in future."

Jaguar Land Rover had been a drag on the company's performance since it bought it in 2008 from Ford for $2.3 billion (1.5 billion pounds), just as the global downturn hit consumer spending on high-end vehicles such as Jaguar's X-series and Land Rover's Range Rovers.

Jaguar Land Rover claimed that the demand has begun to pick up again and sales of its brands in the December quarter rose 28 percent to 56,700 units from the September quarter with improvement in volumes coming mainly from North America, Europe and China. (ANI)