Jaguar Land Rover Q3 profits motor ahead on higher orders

UK luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover posted its highest quarterly profit in six years driven by higher client orders and wholesale revenue.

JLR, owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata, said pre-tax profits of £627m in the three months to December 31, up from £235m a year earlier. Sales hit £7.4bn, up 22%, driven by record wholesale revenues of its Range Rover model.

Revenues for the nine months to end December were £21.1bn - up 35% and the highest for a nine-month period.

Free cash flow for the period was £626m, with total cash of £4.3bn and net debt of £1.6bn. Total liquidity was £5.8 billion, including the £1.52 billion undrawn revolving credit facility maturing April 1, 2026.

JLR said it was on track to achieve its profitability and cashflow targets. Operating profit margin for full-year fiscal 2024 is expected to be more than 8% continued to expect operating cashflow to support net debt of less than £1bn by the end of the year and positive net cash in financial 2025.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors smashed earnings estimates for the period, with third-quarter consolidated net profit rising to 70.25 billion rupees (£664m) from a year earlier. Analysts had expected a profit of INR 44.51bn.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com