L&T net up 26% at Rs 101 crore

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has posted a 26 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 101.43 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2003, against Rs 80.67 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

The company's income from operations stood at Rs 3,126.68 crore compared with Rs 2,436.97 crore in the same period previous year, up 28 per cent. The company attributed its performance to the significant growth in its order booking and revenues of the engineering businesses.

The company's interest outgo for the quarter decreased to Rs 33.63 crore from Rs 39.94 crore in the previous year. Other income increased to Rs 42.86 crore from Rs 38.35 crore while staff cost increased to Rs 199.68 crore from Rs 182.28 crore. Provision for depreciation was Rs 69.84 crore.

"As the execution of order backlog progresses, the E&C segment is expected to show a revenue growth of at least 25 per cent for the year. The cement segment is expected to sustain the recent price improvement until the onset of monsoon. Accordingly, profitability should see improvement during the last quarter," the company said.