Tata Motors on Thursday announced that Ralf Speth has decided to retire from his current role as executive director and chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Rover when his contract expires in September.

Speth will become the non-executive vice-chairman of JLR and will remain on the board of Tata Sons.

Beats estimates

Tata Motors on Thursday beat Street estimates when it posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,755.88 crore for the December quarter of 2019.

The homegrown auto company had reported a net loss of Rs 26,960.8 crore during the same period last fiscal. Analysts were expecting the company to reports profits of up to Rs 1,000 crore.

Tata Motors’ good numbers came despite total revenue from operations falling to Rs 71,676.07 crore from Rs 76,915.94 crore in the year-ago period.

The company said the decline was primarily because of lower volumes in India with the economic slowdown leading to a 33 per cent fall in the standalone topline.

However, JLR saw a rise of around 3 per cent in revenues. Revenues at JLR increased to £6.4 billion, up 2.8 per cent.

The company added that while total retail sales fell 2.3 per cent, sales in China jumped 24.3 per cent and in North America by 1.1 per cent.

According to Tata Motors, JLR’s product mix was stronger, with global sales of the new Range Rover Evoque, a luxury compact SUV, showing a jump of 30 per cent and the refreshed Land Rover Discovery Sport rising 9.2 per cent. Pre-tax profit of JLR increased to £318 million in the quarter against the £273 million loss a year ago.

However, on a standalone basis, the company posted a net loss of Rs 1,039.51 crore against a profit of Rs 617.62 crore in the year-ago quarter.

This came as the total revenue fell to Rs 10,842.91 crore against Rs 16,207.67 crore in the same period a year-ago — a drop of 33 per cent.

During the third quarter, the company’s standalone whole sales, including exports, declined 24.6 per cent to 1,29,185 units.

“Though the near-term market situation is fluid, we are optimistic on the medium term as we launch our exciting BS-VI range of products with our system inventory at a multi-year low. We remain focused on driving our turnaround strategy and transitioning seamlessly to BS-VI,” Tata Motors said.