Mumbai: Improved project execution and higher domestic orders have helped engineering giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) report a 53.22 per cent jump in consolidated net for the December quarter at Rs 1489.98 crore.
Total income from operations grew 9.4 per cent to Rs 28,747.45 crore during the reporting period over the same period a year ago.
“This quarter was a welcome relief for us as performance was satisfactory on all fronts. Revenue recognition was mainly from our businesses like infrastructure, hydrocarbons, heavy engineering, financial services and developmental projects,” Group chief financial officer R Shankar Raman told reporters.
He said revenue grew by 9.4 per cent, but adjusting for excise duty subsumed in GST during the quarter, the growth was 10 per cent.
Revenue from international business stood at Rs 10,110 crore, constituting 35 per cent of the total revenue. “During the past two quarters, we have witnessed a growth of around 8 per cent in revenue and this quarter we touched 10 per cent.
“At the beginning of the fiscal we had given a guidance of 12-14 per cent topline growth, which we later revised to a flat growth. We would still like to maintain a growth rate which we had last fiscal,” Raman said.
Total expenses rose to Rs 26,420.43 crore from Rs 24,882.85 crore.
During the quarter, the company won fresh orders worth Rs 48,130 crore, registering a growth of 38 per cent.
International orders of Rs 8,835 crore constituted 18 per cent of the total order inflows, as against 34 per cent in the same period previous year.
“Domestic order intake grew 70 per cent this quarter. These were the orders that were waiting to be awarded and we are happy to bag them that helped bump up our domestic order inflow,” he said.
Raman further said considering the geo-political development in the Middle East and the changing business climate in the country, the order flow is gathering momentum in the domestic market.
“We are happy to see some momentum gathering pace in terms of awarding contracts that were under our evaluation for a long time. We hope that this trend will continue as the country moves closer to the general elections,” he said.
He further said the rise in oil and commodity prices are encouraging review of market expansion strategies and investment opportunities.
“Challenges to growth in global trade continue with protectionist economic policies and geo-political dynamics.
Tax reforms in the US, Middle East and elsewhere are resetting the global competitive landscape,” Raman added.
Consolidated order book stood at Rs 2,70,727 crore as of December, higher by 4.7 per cent. International orders constituted 25 per cent of the total order book.
During the quarter, infra revenue grew 11 per cent to Rs 13,801 crore, while heavy engineering business reported a 16 per cent growth at Rs 923 crore and financial services segment grew 25 per cent to Rs 2,634 crore.
Developmental projects business registered a growth to Rs 1,031 crore, while the power segment reported revenue of Rs 1,268 crore. Hydrocarbon segment achieved customer revenue of Rs 3,083 crore, up 29 per cent.
The L&T counter closed 0.87 per cent down at Rs 1,416.60 on the BSE against the benchmark slipping 0.19 per cent. (PTI)