L&T net slips to Rs 198 crore

MUMBAI, Oct 28: The net profit of engineering firm, Larsen and Toubro (L&T) fell to Rs 198.71 crore in the first half of current fiscal as compared to Rs 202.86 crore recorded in the same period of last fiscal. Sale of its shipping division contributed a hefty Rs 76.20 crore to its net profit, thus boosting the bottomline of the company.

Addressing a news conference, the managing director of L&T, S D Kulkarni said that due to depressed cement prices and the slowdown in the world markets, the company’s growth was not up to the mark. L&T’s gross profit fell to Rs 273.30 crore in the first six months of the current fiscal from Rs 329.59 crore.

The net sales of the company this fiscal was Rs 3092.95 crore, up from Rs 2621.93 crore recorded in the previous fiscal. The expenditure of company shot up to Rs 2788.33 crore as compared to Rs 2288.65 crore.

Kulkarni said the outlook for the second half will depend on how cement prices shape up in the next few months. In spite of the extremely limited businesspotential, the order booking for the first half of current fiscal year at Rs 3742 crore which is 23 per cent higher as compared to the corresponding period of previous year.