Jaguar Land Rover, the UK’s biggest carmaker, owned by India’s Tata Motors, posted annual pre-tax profits of £1.5bn for the financial year to 31 March 2018, down from £1.6bn in the year before.
Fourth quarter profits dropped by almost half from £676m to £364m.
Annual sales increased by 1.7% thanks to robust demand in China, while UK sales fell by 12.8% to 108,759 cars and sales in Europe dropped by 5.3%. Sales in China rose 19.9% while North American sales grew 4.7%.
Despite the decline in profits, car sales in the fiscal year rose 1.7% to 614,309 cars compared with the year before. However, sales growth declined from the 2016/17 period when sales increased by 15.8%.
Profits were also affected by the fact Jaguar Land Rover invested £4.2bn during financial year.
Jaguar Land Rover chief executive Ralf Speth said: “Strong demand in our key overseas markets has offset the challenging conditions in the UK and other parts of Europe.”
Ralf Speth added:
“Looking ahead, we will maintain our investment in products and technologies to provide our customers with the next generation of Jaguars and Land Rovers. We are confident in our plans to deliver robust growth and we are driving efficiencies to ensure that growth is sustainable and profitable.
“We are one team with pioneering spirit, delivering outstanding new cars, with the best of British design and engineering integrity, leading in customer desirability.”
Jaguar Land Rover said that it plans on investing around £4.5bn in the 2018-19 financial year.