AFP - India's Tata Steel, the world's seventh-largest steel maker, said Tuesday its consolidated quarterly profit more than doubled as demand grew, but lagged behind forecasts as raw material prices rose.
It said net profit rose to 10.03 billion rupees ($222 million) for the three months to December, from 4.72 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier.
The earnings however failed to live up to the forecasts of analysts who expected the company to show a profit of near 11 billion rupees.
Tata Steel, which bought British-Dutch company Corus for 13.7 billion dollars in 2007, said in a statement that sales rose 11 percent to $6.5 billion.
The data included financials of the Indian, south-east Asian operations and Corus.
Tata Steel shares closed down 0.65 percent, or 2.65 rupees, to 616.55 at the Bombay stock exchange, ahead of the earnings announcement.
Steel deliveries fell 5.7 percent to 5.68 million tonnes in the quarter, from a year earlier.
Tata Steel's European sales rose seven percent in the quarter to $4.01 billion, from $3.75 billion a year earlier.
Tata Steel Europe chief executive Karl-Ulrich Köhler said European operations were affected by high raw materials costs and seasonal factors.
"We are gearing up to meet continuing market challenges by reinvigorating our strategy," he said in a statement.
In January this year, Tata Steel and Japan's giant steel producer Nippon Steel Corp signed a deal for a venture to manufacture steel sheets for automobiles in eastern India.
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