L&T Q2 net profit rises 7% to Rs978 crore
19 Oct 2013
Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro Ltd has reported a net profit of Rs978 crore for the second quarter of the 2013-14 financial year, a 7-per cent year-on-year rise from the Rs900 crore profit of the previous year quarter, amidst sluggish domestic economic activity.
Gross revenue for the July-September 2013 quarter rose 10 per cent to Rs14,648 crore, L&T said in an earnings release. Gross revenue for the six month period (April-September 2013-14) stood an Rs27,352 crore, an 8 per cent growth from the first half of the previous financial year.
Order flow at Rs26,533 crore was up 27 per cent year-on-year during the quarter while cumulative order volume for the first half of the financial year stood at Rs51,692 crore.
L&T said international order flows more than doubled, contributing 43 per cent of its total order inflow now. These include some major projects in the Middle East, especially in the infrastructure sector.
Overseas contracts won in the quarter include a $1.4 billion project to build bridges, tunnels and stations for a metro line in Saudi Arabia.
With a pick-up in domestic economy yet to materialise, Larsen & Toubro, the countr's top infrastructure company, is also looking more and more overseas to secure orders and achieve annual revenue growth target.
Mumbai-based L&T maintained its revenue growth forecast of 15 per cent for the current fiscal year to March.
L&T, a diversified infrastructure company undertakes a whole range of activities, including road construction, ship building, construction of power plants and equipment and real estate development.
"At the moment, investment momentum in the Middle East is pretty strong, so our attention has rightly been focused there," chief financial officer R Shankar Raman told reporters after the company released its earnings.
"The domestic market continues to be challenging," he said, adding the company was looking at new markets in countries in Southeast and central Asia and in pockets of Africa.
New orders between July and September grew at an annual rate of 27 per cent to Rs265 billion rupees as international order inflows more than doubled, accounting for 43 pe rcent of total new business, L&T said in a statement.
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