Tata Motors: JLR to turn profitable in 2 years

Tata Motors has said its British luxury auto brands Jaguar and Land Rover, which have posted over Rs 1,700 crore annual losses, will turn profitable in two years.

Company's Vice-Chairman Ravi Kant said the acquisition of the two marquees was not over-priced. "You can't say that the price we paid for was over-priced. In fact out of USD 2.3 billion that we paid for it, USD 600 million went to the pension fund. So Ford actually got only USD 1.7 billion. So I don't think we over pay for it," Kant told a news channel.

He said the two iconic brands would come back on track and would start making profits again within two years.

"I am quite sure and very positive that in two years time, when this company starts making profits, then we can have this discussion again and find out whether we over paid for the acquisition of this company," Kant said.

JLR was officially launched in India last month. At the end of 2008-09, income from JLR sales stood at Rs 39,270.70 crore, while the loss from its operations (before interest, exceptional items and tax) stood at Rs 1,777.35 crore.

Tata Motors too suffered a net loss of Rs 2,505.25 crore in 2008-09 mainly on account of JLR. The Indian auto major had acquired JLR last year for USD 2.3 billion from the US car maker Ford. To fund this, Tata Motors had taken USD three billion bridge loan.

[via ExpressIndia]