Tata Steel Shares were focused a day after announcing its June quarter earnings.

Tata Steel announced on July 25 that consolidated profit after tax (PAT) for the quarter ended June 2022 was Rs 7,765 crore. Net profit fell 12.8% from Rs 8,907 crore a year ago. On a sequential basis, the bottom line was down 20.4% from the Rs 9,756 crore achieved in March’s quarter.

Consolidated revenue of Tata Group of companies rose 18.6% to Rs 63,430 crore in the reported quarter from Rs 53,465 crore a year ago. On a sequential basis, consolidated revenue declined 8.5% from the previous quarter’s Rs 69,324 crore.

The quarter’s results were impacted by higher pet coke prices, leading to higher operating costs, while government-imposed export duties dampened exports and hurt sales.

The stock was trading at Rs 965.35 at 9.18 am, up Rs 4.45 or 0.46% on the BSE. It has touched an intraday high of Rs 974 and an intraday low of Rs 963.60.

Net debt at the end of the quarter stood at Rs 54,504 crore, and the ratio of net debt to EBITDA was below 1.0 times. Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Koushik Chatterjee said, “We remain committed to our annual deleveraging target of $1 billion, in line with our debt reduction capital allocation strategy.”

Global research firm JPMorgan has overweighted the stock with a target price of Rs 1,400 per share, a 45% upside from current market prices. Europe led the company with a strong overall performance. “While the second quarter was seasonally weak, the second half should rebound, with European EBITDA well above $365 per tonne in the first quarter. Steel prices in India bottomed out due to limited imports and stable underlying demand,” it said.