Tata Steel posts highest profit

Tata Steel has warned that rising raw material costs could hurt margins for a couple of quarters after posting its highest annual net profit, bolstered by a surge in prices and demand in India, Asia's third largest economy.

The India-based steel maker, which announced 1,500 job cuts at its UK operations last week, said tepid demand in Europe was a cause for concern, although it was seeing some positive turnaround signs.

Tata Steel said its underlying earnings for the year to March came in at 89.8bn rupees (£1.2bn), compared with a net loss of 20.1bn rupees a year ago.