India's Tata Motors smashes Q2 profit estimates on strong JLR sales

BENGALURU, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Indias Tata Motors (TAMO.NS) posted a bigger-than-expected second-quarterly profit on Thursday, as higher sales of its luxury Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) cars drove record revenue and boosted margins.

The automakers consolidated quarterly net profit, its fourth in a row, was 37.64 billion rupees ($452 million), beating analysts estimate of 43.52 billion rupees, per LSEG data.

It posted a 9.45 billion-rupees loss in the year-ago period.

Tatas overall revenue jumped 32.1% to a record 1.05 trillion rupees, largely due to a 21% rise in retail sales of JLR models, including at its China joint venture.

Sales of JLRs three most profitable models - Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender - surged nearly 90%. They accounted for nearly 60% of overall sales, compared to 37% a year before.

Strong JLR sales are key to Tatas earnings as the UK-based carmaker accounts for two-thirds of its parents revenue.

The rest is from the India business, where revenue from commercial vehicles rose 22.3%, although passenger vehicles revenue dropped 3%.

JLRs EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margin rose to 14.9%, from 10.3%.

That pulled the companys overall EBITDA margins up to 13.7%, from 9.7% earlier.

Tata raised its forecast for JLRs full-year EBIT (earnings margin before interest and taxes) margin to around 8%, from 6%.

Tatas shares closed 1.4% higher ahead of the results. They have surged 64% so far this year, compared to the Nifty Auto indexs (.NIFTYAUTO) 26.5% increase.

($1 = 83.2347 Indian rupees)