(Reuters) -India’s Tata Chemicals reported a quarterly loss for a third time in five quarters on Wednesday, hurt by a one-time charge related to its UK operations and weak demand for flat and container glass.
The company reported a consolidated net loss of 560 million rupees ($6.6 million) for the quarter ended March 31, narrower than the 8.5 billion rupees loss last year.
During the quarter, the company’s struggling soda ash unit in Lostock, UK, ceased operations, resulting in an exceptional charge of 550 million rupees.
Revenue growth was mostly flat, rising 1% year-on-year to 35.09 billion rupees, while total expenses rose 5.2% to 36.12 billion rupees.
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KEY CONTEXT
Globally the price of soda ash, which amounts to two-thirds of Tata Chemicals’ total sales volume, has been pressured by Chinese oversupply.
The chemical used in a wide range of industries, including glass, detergents, pulp and paper.
Calling the market condition “challenging”, company’s MD and CEO R. Mukundan said, “China, U.S. and Western Europe are witnessing slight declines due to reduced demand for flat and container glass.”
He cautioned that tariff uncertainties will continue to weigh on the market.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next Estimates (next 12 months) Analysts’ sentiment
12 months)
RIC PE EV/EBITD Revenue growth Profit Mean No. of Stock to Div
A growth rating* analysts price yield
target** (%)
Tata Chemicals 27.08 10.73 8.11 65.04 Sell 7 0.99 1.80
Deepak Nitrite 30.82 18.37 12.40 32.74 Hold 18 0.93 0.38
SRF 49.57 25.44 14.99 49.16 Hold 27 1.14 0.28
GHCL 8.78 4.89 4.70 NULL Buy 2 0.65 2.05
* Mean of analysts’ ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** Ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
JANUARY TO MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
($1 = 84.6950 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng)
