JLR resurgence boosts Tata full year profits

JAGUAR Land Rover has continued its resurgence, delivering profits of £32m for new owner India Tata Motor’s.

The results for the year to March show a remarkable turnaround for the company after it endured massive losses in the previous year.

The JLR results were contained in the annual results for parent Tata Motors, which showed that across the company sales rose 31% to £13.6bn, with profits of £378m which compares with losses of £310m in the year before.

The results will be pleasing for the company, which encountered criticism for its £1.15bn acquisition of JLR from Ford in 2008.

“We are pleased with the performance of the Jaguar Land Rover business, which turned profitable for the year ended March 31,” said Tata in a statement.

The financial results are not comparable on a year-on-year basis as the business was only under Tata’s ownership for 10 months of the previous year.

Tata said it was also optimistic for JLR in the year ahead, especially after a strong positive reaction to new models.

“With the positive market reception of the enhanced product range in an improved market environment as well as continued cost reduction efforts, the business was able to show sustained quartered on quarter improvement towards solid profitability in Q3 and Q4 of FY10,” added the statement.

During the year, Tata put in place long term financial planning to try and bolster the business. The move is set to pay dividends and was rewarded earlier this year with a £340m loan from the European Investment Bank to help towards low carbon development.

Wholesale volumes for the year 2008-09 were 193,982, which compared with 167,348 vehicles in the previous 10-month period.

Both Jaguar and Land Rover launched updated models including facelifted Range Rovers, Range Rover Sports, the Discovery 4 and for Jaguar, the XF and XK. Jaguar is also optimistic for better sales following the launch of its new flagship saloon, the XJ.

The respective wholesale sales for the year were 146,564 and 47,418.

The statement continued: “JLR retail sales improved favourably in the second half of the year, after addressing the strong recovery in the UK were Land Rover retail sales were up 25% year on year.

“The Jaguar XF improved in the UK by 28% year on year.

Tata said it was also hopeful of continued expansion in its homeland and in China, where demand for the vehicles is growing with the emergence of the new affluent middle class.

“China continued to show significant growth for JLR with Jaguar growing by 38% and Land Rover 55% year on year,” said the company.