L&T hits 52-week high on bagging orders up to ₹5,000-cr in Middle East

Shares of Larsen & Toubro hit a record high on Wednesday after the construction giant's power transmission and distribution business secured new 'large' orders in the Middle East. A project worth ₹2,500 crore to ₹5,000 crore is classified as a large project by L&T.

The stock opened at ₹2,689.55 as against its previous closing price of ₹2,678 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). During intraday trade, the counter hit a 52-week high of ₹2,726, taking the company's market capitalisation to ₹3.81 lakh crore. L&T shares had hit their 52-week low of ₹1,797.40 on September 29, 2022. The stock has jumped 30% in 2023.

"In the United Arab Emirates, the business has received an order to establish a 220kV Gas Insulated Substation and associated Transmission Lines from a well-established service provider to the energy industry," the company says in a stock exchange filing.

Further, orders to establish two new 132kV substations have been received from a public services infrastructure company in Dubai and another order to build a 220kV overhead transmission line has been secured in the region, the filing says.

"In Kuwait, an order has been secured for turnkey construction of four new 132kV substations in the Al Sabah Medical District. The scope also includes associated Control, Protection, Automation and Communication systems and related Civil & Mechanical works," Larsen & Toubro says, adding that additional orders have been received in the ongoing jobs in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The development comes days after its subsidiary L&T Energy Hydrocarbon was awarded a ₹1,000-2,500 crore project by the Saipem & Clough JV (SCJV), Australia, for fabrication and the supply of process and modules for a 2.3 MMTPA urea plant for Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers Pty Ltd. The plant will be constructed on the Burrup Peninsula, around 20 km north of Karratha, Western Australia. Once completed, this facility will be the largest urea plant in Australia and one of the largest in the world. About 50,000 MT of modules are to be delivered by L&T in 32 months. These modules will be fabricated at L&T's Kattupalli Modular Fabrication Facility. Fabricated modules will be shipped in a fully tested, pre-commissioned, and ready-to-install condition to the project site in Australia.

Last week, L&T's buildings & factories (B&F) business also secured orders in India and Bangladesh. It includes an order from the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association for the construction of a cricket stadium at Varanasi. The seating capacity of the stadium will be 30,000 spectators.

The board of the company had earlier announced a share buyback worth ₹10,000 crore, the first ever in the company's 85-year history. For the quarter ended June, L&T clocked a 46.5% year-on-year (YoY) growth in consolidated net profit at ₹2,493 crore from ₹1,702 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Revenue stood at ₹47,882 crore for Q1 FY24, recording a year-on-year growth of 34%, primarily aided by the execution of a healthy opening order book in its projects and manufacturing portfolio. International revenues during the quarter were at ₹19,022 crore, constituting 40% of the total revenue.