Larsen and Toubro Electrical and Automation (L&T E&A), products and solutions business of engineering major Larsen & Toubro, today said it has targetted gross revenues of Rs 5,000 crore this year.
"This year, I don't want to go into the exact numbers, but as a group we expect to cross Rs 5,000 crore and within the industry, we have a reasonably high operating margin," L&T Senior Vice President and E&A Business Head S C Bhargava told reporters here.
Last year, the L&T E&A business grossed revenues of Rs 4,586 crore, of which 28 per cent came from international businesses, Bhargava said.
"This year we expect the international business to account for about 30 per cent of total sales," he said.
E&A has eight manufacturing facilities in Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Pacific, apart from six facilities in India, Bhargava said.
He added that E&A business had much earlier chalked out growth plans through acquisitions that addressed the medium voltage space and the building segment.
"The acquisitions of Datar switchgear in 2006 and Tamco switchgear in 2007 have put us on the high growth path," Bhargava said.
A large part of the company's international businesses was built through strategic acquisitions that were spread over the past seven years, Bhargava said.
In 2012, L&T brought UK's Servowatch under its fold. Henikwon of Malaysia in 2012 and Kana Control in Kuwait were acquired in 2012 and 2013, respectively, Bhargava added.
"Our overseas business also includes the 100 per cent owned LTEAFZE in Jebel Ali, Dubai, and the joint venture with the Kanoo Group in KSA," he said.
"We are very strong in engineering and execution capability and enjoy local support at the client and project site countries," Bhargava added.
The company is not in the US market because of the existence of very different product standards there, Bhargava said and added that the European market is identical to Indian market which is brand conscious.
For the last four years the company has forayed into South-East Asian countries and its next venture will be in East Africa and West Africa. "Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania are three countries we are looking at," he added.
Replying to a query, Bhargava said the Indian market is about Rs 15,000-crore big.
