L&T profit trebles to Rs 1520 crore

MUMBAI: Riding high on a stellar Q3 show, engineering major, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), on Friday said it was expecting to register a 25-30% growth in sales and inflate order book by 15-20% in 2009-10.
"We expect 25-30% growth in sales in the immediate year. There will be some correction on the order book. However, we shall be able to grow to a healthy level and will be very happy with a 15-20% growth in order book," L&T executive vice president (finance) R Shankar Raman said.
Including an extraordinary gain of Rs 916 crore on hiving off its Ready-Mix Concrete business to Lafarge, L&T reported a three-fold surge in profit after tax at Rs 1,520 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2008 as against Rs 482 crore in the December quarter of FY'08.
Excluding the extraordinary gain, the growth in PAT, however, came down to 25% at Rs 604 crore.