Britain’s biggest car maker has reported a 14% drop in sales in the UK but strong growth in China.
Jaguar Landrover (JLR) said it had seen a sharp fall in underlying profits due to higher costs and pay increases.
Profit before tax and one-off items was £157m, down from £348m the previous year, mainly due to higher costs and pay increases.
JLR is owned by India-based Tata Motors, which reported a 42% rise in quarterly profits, mainly thanks to a one-time gain from changes to pension plans made at the British company.
This one-time gain of £437m lifted JLR’s pre-tax profits after one-off items to £595m, up from £399m in 2016.
Dr Ralf Speth, chief executive, said: “In challenging market conditions we are continuing to plan for profitable, sustainable growth.
“Our teams have been hard at work creating world-class cars in an unprecedented level of launch activity for Jaguar Land Rover.”
Looking ahead, JLR said it wants to grow by investing more in new products, technology and manufacturing capacity.
Investment spending this year is expected to be between £4bn and 4.35bn, including investment in a new Slovakia plant.
The car maker said: “Despite increased geopolitical uncertainty – for example, Brexit in the UK – economic growth in most major economies is continuing, although competitive conditions and incentive levels in the automotive sector have increased in key markets such as North America.”
JLR’s results come a few months after it announced it was boosting its 40,000-strong workforce with an extra 5,000 positions.
The car maker said it was hunting “the next generation of world-class electronics and software engineering talent” through the creation of 1,000 new roles.
The other 4,000 new jobs created include manufacturing positions – the majority of all the jobs being in the UK.
Source: Sky