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NT Bureau
Chennai, May 30:

        It has been encouraging for Larsen & Toubro Limit-ed (L&T) during the finan-cial year 2006-07 as it has produced very good results.

        The company's gross sales and service revenue from operations stood at Rs 17901 crore for the financial year ended 31 March, 2007 registering a y-o-y growth of 20 per cent. The share of revenue from international operations constituted 18 per cent of the gross revenue. Net profit including excepti-onal gains, at Rs 1403 crore for the year increas-ed by 39 per cent over the previous year.

        Similarly, PAT for the quarter at Rs 701 crore increased by 50 per cent over the correspo-nding quarter of the previous year.

        Excluding exceptional gains, PAT for the year ended 31 March, 2007 grew by 60 per cent while PAT for the quarter ended 31 March, 2007 registered a growth of 53 per cent. Operating profits (EBITDA) for the year at Rs 2209 crore smartly grew by 47 per cent over the previous year. All the business segments of the company registered an impressive growth in their operating margins.

        The provision for current tax is higher at Rs 612 crore as compared to the previous year's provision of Rs 365 crore, due to the increase in the share of taxable earnings from business operations. Strong economic fundam-entals, generally buoyant market, growing capital goods sector, strategy of carefully choosing busin-ess opportunities and smart execution of jobs— all these factors together contributed to the robust growth in revenue and profitability during the year.

        The board of directors has recommended a final dividend of Rs 2 per equity share, which takes the total dividend for the year, including the interim dividend of Rs 11 per share already paid, to Rs 13 per equity share.