Group performance highlights:

• The Tata Steel group’s profit after tax (after minority interest and share of profit of associates) during FY'12 was Rs5,390 crore ($1.06 billion) compared to a profit of Rs8,983 crore ($1.77 billion) in FY'11. The group’s profit after tax for Q4 FY'12 was Rs433 crore ($85 million) compared to a loss of Rs603 crore ($118 million) in Q3 FY’12 and a profit of Rs4,176 crore ($821 million) in Q4 FY'11.

• Group EBITDA in FY'12 was Rs13,533 crore ($2.66 billion) compared to Rs17,116 crore ($3.36 billion) in FY'11. Group EBITDA in Q4 FY'12 was Rs3,419 crore ($672 million) compared to Rs2,023 crores ($398 million) in Q3 FY’12 and Rs4,782 crore ($940 million) in Q4 FY'11.

• Group consolidated turnover of Rs1,32,900 crore ($26.13 billion) in FY'12 was 11.9 percent higher than the turnover of Rs1,18,753 crore ($23.34 billion) in FY'11. The consolidated turnover of Rs33,999 crore ($6.68 billion) in Q4 FY'12 was up by 2.7 percent from Rs33,103 crore ($6.51 billion) in Q3 FY’12 and by 0.5 percent from Rs33,824 crore ($6.65 billion) in Q4 FY'11.

• The group’s steel deliveries in FY'12 fell marginally by 1.1 percent to 24.22 million tonnes compared to 24.50 million tonnes in FY'11. Q4 FY'12 steel deliveries fell by 6.5 percent to 6.22 million tonnes compared to 6.65 million tonnes in Q4 FY'11, but rose by 6.5 percent from 5.84 million tonnes in Q3 FY’12.

• Net debt at the end of March 2012 increased slightly to Rs47,697 crore ($9.38 billion) compared to Rs46,660 crore ($9.17 billion) at the end of March 2011.

• Turnover at Tata Steel India in FY12 increased by 15.4 percent to Rs33,933 crore ($6.67 billion) from Rs29,396 crore ($5.78 billion) in FY'11. Q4 FY’12 sales of Rs9,479 crore ($1.86 billion) were up 13.7 percent from the Rs8,341 crore ($1.64 billion) of Q4 FY'11 and up 13.1 percent from the Rs8,382 crore ($1.65 billion) of Q3 FY'12.

EBITDA in FY'12 at Rs11,559 crore ($2.27 billion) was down by 0.6 percent from Rs11,625 crore ($2.29 billion) in FY'11. Q4 FY’12 EBITDA of Rs2,975 crore ($585 million) was down 3.3 percent from the Rs3,076 crore ($605 million) of Q4 FY'11, but 13.7 percent higher than the Rs2,618 crore ($515 million) of Q3 FY'12.

• Turnover in Tata Steel Europe in FY'12 increased to Rs82,153 crore ($16.15 billion) from Rs73,844 crore ($14.52 billion) in FY'11. Q4 FY’12 sales were Rs19,923 crore ($3.92 billion) compared to Rs21,488 crore ($4.22 billion) in Q4 FY'11 and Rs20,535 crore ($4.04 billion) in Q3 FY'12. FY’12 sales increased by 3.7 percent over FY’11 as per Tata Steel Europe’s reporting currency.

EBITDA in FY'12 was Rs1,777 crore ($349 million) compared to Rs4,691 crore ($922 million) in FY'11. Q4 FY’12 EBITDA of Rs146 crore ($29 million) was down from the Rs1,557 crore ($306 million) of Q4 FY'11, but recovered from the loss of Rs781 crore ($153 million) of Q3 FY'12.

• The board of directors of the company has recommended a dividend of Rs12 per equity share for the financial year ended March 2012.

Financial performance analysis:

Consolidated financial results summary (under Indian GAAP) for the year ending March 31, 2012

All figures in US$ million, unless specified

For the purposes of converting all financial numbers to US$ for all comparable periods, a US$/Rs exchange rate of 50.87 has been used throughout this document.

Executive comment
Tata Steel managing director HM Nerurkar said: “The Indian operations registered robust performance in FY’12 amid growth concerns in the domestic market. The resilience of the Indian operations was maintained due to customer-centric programmes, all-round improvement in operations and a focus on enhancing the proportion of value-added products across profit centres. Performance in FY’13 is expected to be boosted by the start-up of the brownfield expansion at Jamshedpur, where trial production has begun. Work on the greenfield project in Odisha is on track. The South East Asian operations are expected to perform better in FY’13, on the back of cost reduction measures, a healthy order book position and product-mix improvements. I extend my appreciation to employees for their singular contribution in making this year a success against heavy odds.”

Tata Steel Europe MD and CEO Dr Karl-Ulrich Köhler said: “The continuing eurozone crisis kept EU steel demand well below pre-crisis levels in the March quarter. In addition, operational difficulties that affected strip product output caused the European operations to perform worse than in the year-earlier period. But there was an improvement in performance over the third quarter, when the cost-price squeeze caused by high raw materials volatility was at its most extreme. The realisation of benefits from cost-saving and management improvement programmes contributed to this better performance. The company also met the first-year delivery targets on its long products restructuring by the end of March. Renewed investment and improvement initiatives in the strip products businesses will begin to bring further benefits as this financial year progresses.”

Financing developments:
a) Tata Steel deleveraged its balance sheet by taking the following steps in FY’12:
i. Prepayment of Rs1,000 crore ($197 million) in respect of a SBI rupee term loan in September 2011.
ii. Prepayment of $200 million of a $500 million JPY ECB loan facility in March 2012.
iii. Prepayment of Rs1,500 crore ($ 295 million) of syndicated rupee term loan facilities raised for the 2.9mtpa expansion in March 2012.

b) A new unsecured rupee term loan facility of Rs2,000 crore ($393 million) with a tenor of five years was tied up with SBI in March 2012, of which Rs500 crore ($98 million) was drawn down by the close of FY’12.

Corporate developments:
The Siam Industrial Wire Company (SIW), an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, and Nichia Steel Works of Japan, an affiliate of Nippon Steel Corporation, signed a joint venture agreement on April 5, 2012, to set up a facility to produce 36ktpa of galvanised wire at Rayong, Thailand. SIW will hold 60 percent and NSW 40 percent of the equity capital of the joint venture company. The project will be set up at a capital cost of approximately THB700 million ($23 million) and is expected to come on stream in 2013.

Disclaimer
Statements in this press release describing the company’s performance may be “forward looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws and regulations. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied. Important factors that could make a difference to the company’s operations include, among others, economic conditions affecting demand / supply and price conditions in the domestic and overseas markets in which the company operates, changes in government regulations, tax laws and other statutes and incidental factors.