L&T shares fall 0.10 per cent; Sensex closed 17 points down

Mumbai: L&T shares fell 0.10 per cent to Rs 1,548.90 on the BSE, while the benchmark Sensex closed 17 points down. The results were announced after market hours. For the financial year, standalone net profit increased 25 per cent to Rs 5,493.13 crore, while net sales rose 10 per cent to Rs 56,598.92 crore last year.

Expressing optimism in the economy after the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over, Group chairman A M Naik said, "We are hopeful that infra projects worth over Rs 80,000 crore which were stuck due to clearance will begin to move now. Besides, certain mega projects will also move forward. We will be able to see the impact by August-September."

Naik said there will be an improvement in the economy, which is projected to grow at 5.5 per cent this financial year, giving the company good growth visibility. "When the domestic economy was not doing good, we were looking at expanding our presence in the international market. Our order inflow from the overseas markets grew 33 per cent over FY13. Our involvement in the international business has done good and we have been able to achieve our guidance last year.

"For the current fiscal, we expect our revenues to grow by 15 per cent and order inflow by 20 per cent," Naik said. Naik further said there will be great impetus in the infrastructure sector and defence. "We are geared up for growth in the defence sector...We are also geared up for execution and can take more and more orders. But at the same time, we will be cautious in selecting the orders," he said.