India's Tata Motors sinks most in 2 years on JLR margin concerns, demand worries

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Tata Motors' shares fell 8% on Monday, their biggest slide in over two years, over concerns of muted margin growth at its Jaguar Land Rover division, while the unit said it would have to ramp up spending amid slowing global demand.

The company's stock slid the most since February 2022. They had fallen as much as 9.5% earlier in the session.

Its shares have more than doubled in 2023 and are up 86% over the last 12 months after a turnaround at JLR, the company's British luxury unit, helped India's No. 3 carmaker return to profit. The stock was among the biggest gainers on the blue-chip Nifty 50 index last year.

JLR on Friday said it sees margins on earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for fiscal 2025 similar to the 8.5% it had reported for the previous financial year, adding that it would need to spend more to attract customers, without providing details.

Analysts at Elara Capital believe that this, along with JLR's declining order book and slowing global demand, could result in the unit missing its own EBIT margin forecast of 10% for fiscal year 2026. The brokerage expects the company to report margins of 9.3% for the period.

Emkay Global also echoed that sentiment, saying that "the best may be behind for all (of Tata Motors') businesses" while Motilal Oswal said "there are clear headwinds ahead" that could hurt the company's performance.

Still, analysts rate the 'Nexon' sport utility vehicle (SUV) maker "buy" on average, in-line with rivals Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki.

Tata Motors' shares were last down 8.3% at 959.75 rupees. It trimmed its gains in 2024 to 23%.

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)