Engineering and infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro posted a 17% growth year-on-year in net profit at R1,686 crore for the quarter ending March 31. The company’s total revenue was up 13% at R15,384 crore for the quarter.
The company’s order inflow grew 27% at R30,313 crore during January-March period. “We achieved a good growth despite many orders, especially in the infrastructure and power sectors, got postponed in the last quarter,” said AM Naik, chairman and managing director of the company.
Naik said that many projects, especially in the government sector, got delayed due to “political upheavals”. The public sector projects contributed just 26% of the total revenue of L&T in the last fiscal against 53% in the previous year as decisions were pending at various stages in different ministries.
“There was no activity in the road sector for 7-8 months,” said YM Deosthalee, CFO, L&T. “Now the situation has improved. NHAI has recently awarded a R2,200-crore road project within a week since the letter of intent was submitted. This is a record.”
About the restructuring of L&T, which entailed splitting the group’s business into nine independent entities under a holding company, Naik said “We are carefully monitoring the performance of the newly created autonomous entities. In my mind, they are performing well. Already 16 independent directors have joined the boards of various independent companies”.
{{/usCountry}}About the restructuring of L&T, which entailed splitting the group’s business into nine independent entities under a holding company, Naik said “We are carefully monitoring the performance of the newly created autonomous entities. In my mind, they are performing well. Already 16 independent directors have joined the boards of various independent companies”.
{{/usCountry}}The company is expecting more orders in infrastructure, power and hydrocarbon sectors in the current fiscal.