21 January 2024 , 22:29
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The mega-rich parent company of Tata Steel in the UK raked in roughly £3billion of global profits last year.
Indian-owned Tata Steel UK last week confirmed devastating plans to axe up to 2,800 British jobs. Most will go at its Port Talbot plant in South Wales with the closure of its two blast furnaces this year.
The Government is handing Tata £500million of taxpayers’ money to help pay for a new electric arc furnace at the site, but it is not due to be completed until 2027 and will need far fewer workers. Tata complained that it was losing nearly £1.5million a day in the UK. Yet accounts for its Mumbai-based parent company, Tata Steel Limited, show the global business is flying.
It made an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) profit of £3bn last year, analysis by union Unite shows.
Tata gave £1.4bn to shareholders from 2019 to 2023, and had reserves of £1.6bn at the end of the last financial year. Unite chief Sharon Graham said: “Tata’s pleas of poverty have been exposed as a sham. They are making money hand over fist and will only profit from bringing in more Indian and Dutch steel to the UK if we cut capacity.
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“It is unbelievable the Government is going along with this. Rather than demanding the investment comes with jobs guarantees, they are giving Tata half a billion of taxpayers’ money to slash its workforce and flood the UK with foreign steel.” Tata Steel said: “As a listed company on the Mumbai stock exchange, our financial results are available on our website.”
Bosses pointed to losses of almost £135m at Tata Steel UK between July and September. That is on top of £162m of losses in the year to last March. Yet in the previous year the business made a £193m profit. Unite claims Tata has invested far less in its UK steel operations than in its European sites.
Tata is owned by Tata Sons, formerly led by Ratan Tata, 86. The empire includes Jaguar Land Rover. The closing of Port Talbot’s blast furnaces is partly to tackle pollution. Tata is pledging over £130m to help workers who will lose their jobs.
The Mirror has been campaigning since 2015 to Save our Steel.