L&T net profit jumps 40% on higher orders

Sitting on a swelling order-book of more than Rs 50,000 crore, India's largest engineering and construction company Larsen & Toubro (L&T) posted a 40 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 481.79 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, against Rs 343.90 crore in the same period for the corresponding year.

Net sales and revenues from operations stood at Rs 6,382.68 crore for the quarter, 55 per cent more than the performance of Rs 4,115.69 crore for the corresponding period of the previous year, as per the unaudited financial results for the quarter.

"Primarily, three reasons contributed to our growth in business, an order book in excess of Rs 50,000 crore, higher operating margins for engineering and construction, machinery and industrial products and the electrical and electronics segment and growth in sales through the strategy of taking up high-value long-gestation selective projects," said Y M Deosthale, whole-time director and CFO, Larsen & Toubro, from Dubai.

For the first time, the L&T Board met at Dubai today to review and approve the quarter's results. L&T attributed this gesture to its strong presence and growing business interests in the Gulf region.

The engineering and construction (E&C) segment contributed the lion's share of the income during the quarter, at Rs 4,962 crore, a jump of 57 per cent compared with the previous year.

Order inflow of Rs 11,462 crore in the E&C segment also grew by 40 per cent. The segment had orders worth Rs 47,605 crore by the quarter ended 31 December 2007, including international orders worth Rs 6,403 crore.

Total order inflow during the quarter was Rs 13,019 crore, an increase of 37 per cent over the same period of the previous year.