Tata Motors stock in focus as JLR suspends production outside China, sees 31% drop in March quarter sales

NEW DELHI: Shares of Tata Motors would be in focus on Monday after the automaker informed exchanges that British arm Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has temporarily suspended production at its facilities outside China.

The automaker said JLR sales tumbled 30.9 per cent in the March quarter to 1,09,869 units and that the company is tightly managing all other costs and investments as well as working capital.

Jaguar Land Rover will be reporting audited results for the financial year ended March 31 at a later date, but Tata Motors said that the UK arm ended the financial year with 3.6 billion pounds of cash and short-term investments and an undrawn revolving credit facility of 1.9 billion pounds.

Shares of Tata Motors have plunged 58 per cent since the beginning of this calendar, as production activity in key markets have come to a halt in the light of lockdowns imposed in various countries due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings last week downgraded Tata Motors’ long-term issuer rating to ‘B’ from ‘BB-’ with a negative outlook, citing low expectation for the automaker’s profitability and cash flows over the next few years due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. S&P Global Ratings has also recently cut the automaker’s senior unsecured notes to ‘B’ from ‘B+’, citing a weaker than expected credit matrix.

For the financial year, Jaguar Land Rover retail sales stood at 5,08,659 vehicles, down 12.1 per cent.

JLR sales in FY20 were impacted across all regions with lower sales in North America (7.5 per cent), China (down 8.9 per cent), UK (down 9.6 per cent), Europe (down 16.1 per cent) and overseas (20.3 per cent).

China had generated double digit growth in the September and December quarter and, with lockdown measures easing, nearly all of the company’s retailers in the region have now reopened and sales are recovering, Tata Motors said.

Felix Brautigam, Jaguar Land Rover Chief Commercial Officer, said: “FY20 has been a year of unprecedented disruption for the automotive sector. Despite the impact of regulatory change, shifting consumer tastes, Brexit and ongoing trade tensions, sales for Jaguar and Land Rover were showing improvement until the coronavirus pandemic hit in the fourth quarter.