Larsen & Toubro Ltd on Monday posted a massive jump in its second quarter net profit at Rs 371.98 crore (Rs 3.72 billion) as against Rs 81.26 crore (Rs 812.6 million) in July-September 2003.
Its revenues from engineering and construction business are expected to grow by 30 per cent in the second half of 2004-05.
The profit for the quarter includes Rs 353 crore (Rs 3.53 billion) as gain on the sale of shares of UltraTech Cemco to Grasim Industries under the scheme of arrangement.
Excluding the gain, the net profit would have been Rs 92 crore (Rs 920 million) representing an increase of 14 per cent over the same period last year, A M Naik, L&T chairman said.
The total income during the reporting quarter rose to Rs 3,400.48 crore (Rs 34 billion) as compared to Rs 2197.61 crore (Rs 21.98 billion) in the same period of 2003-04.
The E&C division order revenues are expected to rise by about 30 per cent during the second half of the current fiscal, he said adding, the operating margins for the second half are expected to be significantly higher than the first half.
Naik said the E&C division during the quarter booked new orders amounting to Rs 2,459 crore (Rs 24.59 billion) as against Rs 3,213 crore (Rs 32.13 billion) in the same period of last fiscal.
"Delayed decisions on capex programmes in core and infrastructure sectors and changes in policy environment have resulted in fewer domestic opportunities during the period under review," Naik said.
However, the order bookings are in line with the management budgets, which have recognised these developments, he said adding, export orders amounted to Rs 426 crore, (Rs 4.26 billion) largely comprising repeat orders from China for supply of coal gassifiers and a gas re-injection facility in Abu Dhabi.
The segment's gross revenues for the quarter at Rs 2,560 crore (Rs 25.60 billion) have grown by 48 per cent over the last year and customer backlog as on September 30, 2004 is about Rs 16,432 crore (Rs 164.32 billion).
Gross revenues of the electrical and electronics business for the quarter grew by 19 per cent at Rs 301 crore (Rs 3.01 billion) as against Rs 253 crore (Rs 2.53 billion) in the same period of last fiscal.