L&T misses estimates, net profit rises 15% to Rs 2,947 cr in Q3 FY24

Bengaluru: Infrastructure sector bellwether Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) on Tuesday missed Dalal Street estimates, posting a 15 per cent annual growth in net profit at Rs 2,947 crore in the October-December quarter of financial year 2023-24. The company, which had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,553 crore in the year-ago period, was expected to report profits to the tune of Rs 3,304 crore in the December quarter, as per LSEG data.

Overall revenue during the quarter reflected a 19 per cent year-on-year surge to Rs 55,128 crore, aided by a ramp up in execution of a strong order book in the projects and manufacturing portfolio, L&T said.

“We have registered yet another quarter of strong performance, despite the headwinds from a volatile global environment and consequent supply chain constraints,” L&T Chairman and Managing Director S N Subrahmanyan said in a statement.

The company attracted order inflows worth Rs 76,000 crore during the quarter, to take the overall order book to Rs 2.3 lakh crore for the nine months ended December 31, 2023. At Rs 50, 562 crore, international orders comprised 67 per cent of the total order flow during the third quarter.

Even as project tendering slows down with general elections approaching in India, the pipeline prospects remain optimistic with order possibilities worth Rs 6 lakh crore in the near term, company chief financial officer R Shankar Raman said during a post results press conference.

Furthermore, while margins stayed subdued during the third quarter, legacy projects which commenced around 2021 are nearing completion, Raman added.

“Given L&T's robust financial results, the growing number of orders, and its advantage from the government's increased spending on infrastructure projects, we see a positive outlook for L&T's stock. This perspective holds both for the short term and looking further ahead,” Nirav Karkera, who heads research at financial services provider Fisdom, said.

During the December quarter, infrastructure projects roped in Rs 27,845 crore in customer revenues while the energy segment fetched Rs 7,864 crore, registering a 27 per cent and 24 per cent year-on-year growth, respectively.

Meanwhile, the IT and technology services arm - LTIMindtree and L&T Technology Services - saw a modest 5 per cent annual growth to record Rs 11,196 crore in customer revenues amid a larger slowdown in the sector and extended furloughs during the seasonally weak third quarter.

The company also announced on Tuesday that its power transmission and distribution business has bagged a mega project to set up a  1,800 MWac solar photovoltaic plant in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  A mega project ranges between Rs 10,000 - 15,000 crore in deal size.