L&T profit jumps 42 p.c.

In a difficult economic scenario, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), on Monday, reported a 42 per cent growth in its net profit for the second quarter of 2012-13 at Rs.1,137 crore. However, during the period, exceptional items / extraordinary items were Rs.222 crore, including Rs.170 crore from stake sale in L&T Plastics Machinery and Rs.52 crore from the balance stake sale in Mahindra Satyam. Excluding these, the net profit rose 15 per cent to Rs.915 crore.

Net sales grew 17 per cent to Rs.13,195 crore. Operating profit rose by 16 per cent to Rs.1,405 crore. Margins were up 30 basis points at 10.7 per cent.

Addressing a press conference, R. Shankar Raman, CFO, said, “We are benefited by our diversity in the engineering space. Within our portfolio, there are pockets rich in opportunity where investments and orders are taking place like in transport and urban infrastructure.’’

Segment-wise, engineering & construction accounted for 87.6 per cent of revenues, electrical & electronics segment 5.8 per cent and machinery & industrial products (MIP) 3.9 per cent.

Order inflow was up 30 per cent at Rs.20,967 crore, and, at the end of the quarter, the order book stood 11 per cent higher at Rs.1,58,528 crore. Mr. Shankar Raman said, “The order inflow and order book are good but we would still maintain our guidance for order inflow of 15-20 per cent above last year’s figure of Rs.70,000 crore for the year. We are keeping course and hope to sustain it in the remaining quarters.’’

In order inflow, domestic orders accounted for 84 per cent of revenues, Middle East 11 per cent and the rest of the world 5 per cent. Domestic orders accounted for 88 per cent of the order book with 12 per cent being international orders.

Regarding geographical mix, K. Venkataramanan, CEO & MD, said “Our major overseas order booking with be the Middle East. However, in the next few years, we are building a similar structure in Africa and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries and by 2016, we will have more business from these.”