Tata steel see $584.7m loss

Tata Steel Ltd, the world's No 8 steelmaker by output, reported a consolidated quarterly net loss on Thursday, hurt by the weak performance of its European unit Corus. Tata Steel, which bought No 2 European steelmaker Corus in 2007, said its consolidated July-September net loss was 27.07 billion rupees ($584.7m), after minority interest and share of profit of associates, compared with a profit of 47.72 billion rupees a year earlier. Consolidated net sales fell to 252.70 billion rupees from 441.99 billion rupees a year earlier. Last month, the firm said its Indian operations' net profit fell 49.5 per cent. Shares in Tata Steel, valued at $10.7 billion, extended losses to 5.2 per cent at 533.10 rupees after the results, while the main index was down 1.8 per cent. The firm's shares have leapt 150 per cent this year, better than a 77 per cent jump in the main index.