Engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) on July 24 reported a consolidated net profit for the quarter ended June 2024 at Rs 2,786 crore, up 12 percent compared to Rs 2,493 crore in the same quarter last year.

On July 24, L&T's shares closed 0.45 percent lower at Rs 3,522 apiece.

Revenue from operations rose 15 percent to Rs 55,120 crore in Q1FY25 as against Rs 47,882 crore in the year-ago period.

L&T's net profit came in slightly below market expectations and its revenues surpassed the market's view.

According to a Moneycontrol poll, L&T's net profit was expected to jump 15 percent YoY to Rs 2,876 crore. Revenue was seen rising 9.6 percent YoY to Rs 52,518 crore.

The company said the order inflow for the quarter ended June 30, 2024 stood at Rs 70,936 crore, registering a growth of 8 percent over the corresponding quarter of the previous year due to the strong ordering
momentum from countries in the Middle East

International orders were at Rs 32,598 crore, constituting 46 percent of the total order inflows.

The consolidated order book of the group was at Rs 4,90,881 crore as on June 30, 2024, with international orders having a share of 38 percent, L&T said.

The order book of Rs 4,75,809 crore represents a growth of 19 percent over Rs 4,12,648 crore as on June 30, 2023 and Rs 3,63,448 crore as on June 30, 2022, the company said.

OUTLOOK

Going forward, L&T expects India's economic growth momentum to continue in the medium term facilitated by both public and private capital investment.

"With the Union Elections behind and the likely political stability, the Government’s continued thrust on capex and business optimism augur well for investment activity.," the company said in a stock exchange filing.

However, despite the strong growth momentum expected domestically, L&T expects a slowdown in the pace of infrastructure progress due to skilled labour shortage in certain sectors.

L&T added that it expects a rebound in international orders though the run-up to the US Presidential elections in November can exhibit economic volatility.

"With the change of Government in UK, and a hung parliament in France, the concern about the European economic recovery remains. China’s economic recovery remains debatable with rising trade tensions threatening to overshadow growth in exports," L&T added.

L&T Chairman and Managing Director SN Subrahmanyan said that the Union Budget released yesterday presented a detailed roadmap towards pursuit of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.

"With the expected policy continuation in India, the tailwinds in the Indian economic growth is likely to continue which will facilitate the Group to achieve its Lakshya 26 targets," Subrahmanyan said.

He added that L&T has achieved steady growth across all financial parameters in Q1 FY 2024-25, despite the geopolitical situation across the globe.

"Amidst various transformational shifts happening worldwide, we are well-positioned to grasp these opportunities with our expertise in our traditional P&M business and technology driven new-age businesses," Subrahmanyan added.