Jaguar Profits

Jaguar surprises experts by posting £1 billion profits

British car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover is celebrating after posting pre-tax profits of more than £1 billion last week. The Tata Motors-owned company has surprised industry insiders by posting pre-tax profits of £1.1 billion for the year ending 31st March, effectively turning the fortunes of the recession-stricken company around.

The figures show revenues increased 51% to £9.9 billion as car sales increased by 26% with the successful launches of the new Land Rover ranges and the Jaguar XJ. The results have come as a much needed boost to the firm who slumped to a loss before the buyout from Tata Motors in 2008.

Despite the purchase of Jaguar Land Rover for £1.5 billion from Ford, the company feared it may have to close one of its production plants in the West Midlands as the car market went into reverse, however a pick up in the market led the firm to keep all three plants open.

The increase in sales has been largely credited to increased interest in China and emerging countries where consumers see British cars as a status symbol. In addition to these emerging countries, Jaguar Land Rover also confirmed renewed growth in other countries including Russia, Germany and India.

'This is a solid performance but we must remain focused on delivering a strong, sustainable business model for the future. To that end, we have committed more than £1bn a year over the next five years to the creation of new and exciting products which will strengthen Jaguar Land Rover's position in the global marketplace,' commented JLR chief executive Ralf Speth.

It's thought the firm now have plans to take on another 1,000 employees and build another UK plant and a possible assembly plant in China.

'We employ 17,000, but our UK payroll number should increase to 20,000 by 2013,' confirmed a JLR spokesperson

Land Rover's positive sales and profit figures have also helped to boost the full year figures of its parent company Tata Motors - the company posted a 33% increase in revenues to £16.3 billion and a pre-tax profit figure of £1.4 billion in the year ending 31st March.