India's Tata Steel Q1 net more than triples

MUMBAI: India's Tata Steel on Friday said first-quarter net profit more than tripled, beating estimates, helped by stronger volumes at its Indian operations, better prices in Europe and a one-time gain from a stake sale.

Excluding a one-time gain of 28.8 billion rupees ($634 million) from the company's sale of its stake in Australian coal miner Riversdale to Rio Tinto, Tata Steel reported a profit of 24.7 billion rupees.

Shares in Tata Steel, valued at about $10 billion, have fallen nearly 29 percent so far in 2011, compared with a nearly 17-percent fall in India's benchmark index.

Copyright Reuters, 2010