India-headquartered steel giant Tata Steel Group has issued its group financial results including Tata Steel Europe for the third quarter and the first nine months ended December 31 of the financial year 2014-15.
In the third quarter, Tata Steel Group's net profit amounted to INR 1.57 billion ($25.2 million), down 68.8 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous financial year, while the company's sales revenue decreased by 8.44 percent year on year to INR 336.3 billion ($5.4 billion).
During the first nine months, Tata Steel posted a net profit of INR 17.5 billion ($281.25 million), falling 31.6 percent, while its sales revenues amounted to INR 1.05 trillion ($16.87 billion), slightly decreasing by 0.32 percent both year on year.
In the April-December period, steel deliveries of the group amounted to 19.25 million mt, increasing by 1.63 percent year on year, with deliveries from the European operations rising by 0.7 percent to 9.86 million mt and deliveries from the Indian operations up 3.76 percent to 6.34 million mt, both compared to the same period of the previous financial year.
According to Tata Steel, Indian steel demand remained subdued during the third quarter and domestic steel prices witnessed further deterioration due to the continued softening of global steel prices coupled with significant imports from China and Russia. European steel demand continued to recover in 2014 and is expected to improve modestly again this year. But margins remain under pressure, with imports having risen from countries like China and Russia.