The Hindu Business Line : L&T Q4 net profit jumps 40%

An all-round increase in margins across segments has helped Larsen & Toubro report a 40 per cent rise in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2006.

Net profit for the quarter amounted to Rs 467 crore, as against Rs 334 crore during the corresponding year-ago quarter.

Revenues from operations rose by 8.33 per cent to Rs 4,594 crore (Rs 4,241 crore). Revenue growth was affected because most orders in the previous year were postponed to the first quarter of the current fiscal, said Mr A.M. Naik, Chairman and Managing Director, at a news conference here on Thursday.

Extraordinary items

For the year ended March 31, 2006, net profit (after extraordinary items) rose by 2.8 per cent to Rs 1,012 crore (Rs 984 crore). The extraordinary items consist of Rs 69.75-crore gain from the sale of the company's dairy equipment and glass container businesses.

Net sales for the year, at Rs 14,653 crore (Rs 13,050 crore) showed a 12 per cent increase. Total expenditure was contained and rose only 11 per cent at Rs 13,695 crore (Rs 12,313 crore).

Profit before tax and extraordinary items amounted to Rs 1,314 crore (Rs 1,286 crore), growing by over 2 per cent.

Overall, the operating margin during the year was 9.6 per cent, as against 8.5 per cent the previous year, said Mr Y.M. Deosthalee, Director, Finance and Chief Financial Officer, L&T.

The Engineering and Construction division, which accounts for over 80 per cent of revenues, reported a margin of 8.1 per cent (7.2 per cent). The other divisions reported a margin of 15 per cent (12 per cent).

Infotech

L&T Infotech's net profit rose by 9 per cent to about Rs 69 crore. Its revenues rose by over 40 per cent to about Rs 800 crore. The low net-profit growth was due to investment in expansion, said officials.

Dividend

The board of directors announced a dividend of Rs 22 per share.

The board will meet on June 7 to consider the issue of bonus shares, said the company in a notice to the stock exchanges. Currently the face value of an L&T share is Rs 2.

The L&T scrip closed at Rs 2,295.45, gaining 1.17 per cent over Wednesday's closing price.

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