Overseas contract energizes L&T

Overseas contract energizes L&T

Larsen & Toubro rose 8.28% to Rs 3548.10 at 15:30 IST on BSE, on bagging an order worth Rs 311 crore from Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation for design, supply, installation and commissioning of five 66/11 substations at Qatar..

The company made this announcement during market hours today, 14 February 2008.

Meanwhile, BSE Sensex was up 874.40 points or 5.16% to 17,823.54, on strong cues from the global markets. Stocks rose across the globe as a surprise increase in US retail sales in January 2008 helped ease recession worries in the world's largest economy.

On BSE, 2.71 lakh shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 1.94 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 3565 and a low of Rs 3325 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 4670 on 1 November 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 1374.90 on 5 March 2007.

The large-cap scrip had underperformed the market over the past one month till 13 February 2008, declining 19.33% compared to the Sensex’s decline of 16.31%. It had also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 27.27% compared to Sensex’s decline of 14.33%.

The company’s current equity is Rs 58.43 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2. The current price of Rs 3548.10 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 66.03, by a PE multiple of 53.73.

On 8 February 2008, Larsen & Toubro (L&T)’s construction division bagged an order worth Rs 1,107 crore from Steel Authority of India for its IISCO Steel Plant at Burnpur, West Bengal. On 24 January 2008, the company bagged orders worth Rs 1057 crore from the Gulf region. On 21 January 2008, L&T’s engineering division bagged an export order worth Rs 1695 crore for manufacturing and supplying 22 hydrocracker & atmospheric residue desulphurisation reactors.

On 26 December 2007, L&T’s subsidiary L&T Oman LLC secured an order worth $110.37 million from Muscat Golf Course Project LLC.

In November 2007, the company secured a contract worth Rs 275 crore from Delhi Metro Railway Corporation in consortium with Shanghai Urban Construction.

L&T’s net profit rose 40.1% to Rs 481.79 crore on 55.1% growth in net sales to Rs 6382.68 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

The company manufactures a wide range of engineering products like earthmoving, industrial and chemical machinery, switchgears, valves and welding alloys.