L&T Q4 profit rises 10 pc to Rs.3,987 cr; AM Naik to step down

New Delhi: Engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Wednesday reported a 10 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 3,987 crore for the quarter ended in March 2023 and announced the stepping down of non-executive chairman A M Naik from the post.

A M Naik has decided to step down as non-executive chairman of the company with effect from September 30 and L&T Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director will be re-designated as the Chairman and Managing Director from October 1, 2023, the company said in a filing.

The consolidated revenue of the company during January-March 2023 increased to Rs 58,335 crore from Rs 52,851 crore in the year-ago period, a rise of 10 per cent.

Its total expenses also surged 11 per cent to Rs 51,502 crore against Rs 46,334 crore in January-March FY22.

The Board of Directors recommended a final dividend of Rs 24 per equity share for FY23.

The company received orders worth Rs 230,528 crore at the group level during the year ended March 31, 2023, registering a healthy y-o-y growth of 19 per cent.

In a separate statement, S. N. Subrahmanyan, Chief Executive Officer of Larsen & Toubro, said, "For the first time ever, our group order inflows cross Rs 2 trillion (Rs 2 lakh crore) and our order book Rs 4 trillion is at a record high.

"Our group revenues at Rs 1.83 trillion for the year registered a growth of 17 per cent, the best we have achieved in the five last years, on the back of strong execution momentum in the projects & manufacturing portfolio and a healthy growth in IT&TS businesses."

According to the statement, the company has received orders worth Rs 2,30,528 crore at the group level during the year ended March 31, 2023, registering a y-o-y growth of 19 per cent.

During the year, orders were received across multiple segments like public spaces, hydel and tunnels, irrigation systems, ferrous metals, oil & gas, power transmission & distribution and defence sectors.

International orders at Rs 86,523 crore during the year comprised 38 per cent of the total order inflow.

The order inflow for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, stood at Rs 76,099 crore, registering a growth of 3 per cent over the corresponding quarter of the previous year. International orders at Rs 36,046 crore constituted 47 per cent of the total.

The consolidated order book of the group is at Rs 3,99,526 crore as on March 31, 2023, with international orders having a share of 28 per cent. The order book of Rs 3,99,526 crore represents a growth of 12 per cent over Rs 3,57,595 crore as on March 31, 2022.

On the outlook for the sector, it said India's economic growth continues to display encouraging resilience amidst the continuing global chaos. Prudent fiscal and monetary policy management from the government and RBI respectively has resulted in the partial decoupling of India's growth story with the rest of the world.

The government's push for growth through larger infrastructure spending is clearly evident from the enhanced budgetary allocations for FY 2023-24. PLI incentives, improved business confidence and buoyant demand conditions will continue to facilitate a positive environment. Going forward, improved tax collections for the government will support its capex-led growth aspiration.

Further, bank balance sheets are healthy providing opportunities to lend funds to projects, the company said adding the last two years have seen the global economy striving to deal with overlapping crises, the latest being the liquidity troubles after a series of global bank crises.