The introduction of 22 new steel products has played a significant role in Tata Steel’s improved financial performance during FY15, according to the steelmaker’s recently released Q3 results and its figures for the first nine months of the period.
The company claims that ‘portfolio enhancement’ improved the fortunes of the business and plans continue with its new product development strategy.
Some 22 new products were introduced during the first nine months of FY15 and there are now 100 products in the portfolio, claims Tata, including Celsius 420, a structural steel tube product offering easy weldability and fabrication as well as higher yield strength.
The company intends to introduce further additions to its product range in the hope of achieving ‘a sustainable financial performance’.
According to Tata, due diligence work ‘on the potential sale of the Long Products Europe business to the Klesch Group’ continues.
Tata’s CEO for European operations, Karl Koehler, says that the company’s financial performance improvements have been gathering strength and that the transformation of its product mix has gone a long way towards giving Tata customers a competitive edge.
“We have just passed a significant milestone in this journey after launching the 100th new product in our portfolio,” he said, adding demand for European steel continued to recover in 2014 and should improve modestly in 2015.
As Tata enters its final quarter of FY15, Koehler sees opportunities to improve the company’s performance and to strengthen its position in Europe.
In Europe the company’s 9M FY15 turnover was £6.14 billion and £1.97 billion for Q3 FY15. Liquid steel production for 9M FY15 was down 2.2% from 11.51Mt to 11.26Mt and deliveries were up 0.7% from 9.79Mt to 9.86Mt. For Q3 deliveries were up 3.8% from 3.19Mt to 3.31 Mt.