Tata Steel shares tank 5 per cent on Q4 numbers

Tata Steel shares tanked around 5 per cent on Thursday after the steel maker announced disappointing fourth quarter earnings.

Tata Steel on Wednesday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 5,674.29 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, against a profit of Rs 1,035.87 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Consolidated gross sales of the company declined 20.66 per cent year-on-year (yoy) to Rs 33,336.84 at the end of the quarter under review.

For January-March period, Tata Steel reported standalone net profit of Rs 814.09 crore, down 58.86 per cent, against Rs 1978.64 crore in the same quarter last year. Standalone net sales of the company declined 12.62 per cent yoy to Rs 10,522.68 crore.

Shares of the company opened at Rs 350 and have touched a low of Rs 341.25 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. It closed the day at Rs 342.90.

"Raw Material costs were significantly higher at around 31 per cent of revenues led by use of imported iron ore inventory, leading to a sharply lower than expected operating profit margin at 16 per cent (against our estimate of 23 per cent). EBITDA per tonne came in at $110 per tonne as against $276 per tonne last year and $150/tonne in the third quarter of FY2015," said Rahul Dholam, senior research analyst, Metal & Mining, Angel Broking.