Engineering and infrastructure conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) posted a 24% rise in consolidated net profit at `2,553 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, helped by improved execution of infrastructure projects and growth in IT portfolio. The firm had posted a net profit of `2,055 crore for the same period of the previous financial year.
The net profit for the reporting quarter included an exceptional gain of Rs 97 crore following the divestment of its mutual fund business. In December 2021, group company L&T Finance Holdings had announced sales of its mutual fund business to HSBC Asset Management (India) for Rs 3,484 crore. Its recurring net profit (excluding exceptional items) for the quarter rose 20% to Rs 2,456 crore from Rs 2,055 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
During the reporting quarter, L&T’s consolidated revenues rose 17% to Rs 46,390 crore from Rs 39,563 crore recorded during the same period a year ago.
A consensus estimate of Bloomberg analysts was expecting the firm to post a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,570.10 crore (12 brokers) on consolidated revenues of `45,850.50 crore (18 brokers).
“Our order inflows and revenues for the quarter were up 21% and 17%, respectively. Order book at Rs 3.86 trillion is at an all-time high and provides multi-year revenue visibility. We completed the merger of LT Infotech and Mindtree and announced the IDPL divestment (L&T Infrastructure Development Projects). With the conclusion of sale of the mutual fund business and a phased rundown of the wholesale loan assets book, our financial services business will continue to grow its stated strategy of retailisation of the loan book,” L&T CEO & MD S N Subrahmanyan said.
“We are possibly amidst a synchronous capex recovery in India and the GCC countries. With the revival of private capex investments, India should witness a multi-year capex cycle in the current decade, which augurs well for us,” he added.
During the quarter under review, L&T group level orders rose 21% to Rs 60,710 crore from year-ago period, with global orders at Rs15,294 crore.