Larsen and Toubro Ltd.'s profit rose for the eighth straight quarter, surpassing analyst estimates.
India's largest construction and engineering company's net profit rose 53 percent on a yearly basis to Rs 1,490 crore in the three months ended December, it said in a stock exchange notification. That compares with the Rs 1,385 crore consensus estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg.
Revenue rose 10 percent year-on-year to Rs 28,747 crore, beating the estimate of Rs 28,385 crore. The growth was driven by its infrastructure and hydrocarbon businesses that contributed the most to its fresh orders worth Rs 48,130 crore during the quarter.
The company maintained its full-year forecasts:
- Revenue expected to grow 12 percent in the year ending March.
- Margins to improve by 25 basis points as expected.
- Order-book growth to remain flat.
At the end of December, the order book stood at Rs 2.7 lakh crore—three-quarters of it comprising domestic orders and the rest international. “We believe this ratio will remain going forward,” Chief Financial Officer Shankar Ramanan said in a media conference to announce earnings.
The operating income or the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 25 percent year-on-year in the December quarter to Rs 3,143 crore while operating margins expanded to 10.9 percent from 9.6 percent in the same period.
Ahead of the earnings, shares of L&T closed 0.4 percent lower at Rs 1,424.9 apiece compared to a 0.19 percent decline in the benchmark Sensex.
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