India's L&T maintains FY27 outlook on strong order inflows despite geopolitical headwinds (updated)
UPDATE 2-India's L&T maintains FY27 outlook on strong order inflows despite geopolitical headwinds Rewrites with details from earnings calls
By Urvi Dugar
BENGALURU, July 28 (Reuters) - Larsen & Toubro LART.NS maintained its annual revenue and margin forecast on Tuesday, after posting a higher first-quarter profit as strong project execution and steady order inflows helped India's top construction firm weather geopolitical challenges.
L&T reiterated its outlook for broadly stable margins at around 8.3% for fiscal 2027, along with a top line and order book growth of 10% to 12% each.
Strong profit growth, a robust order backlog and expectations of improved execution in the second half helped offset concerns over its Middle East exposure, while new offshore wind orders from Europe supported order book growth.
The company sustained its momentum by shifting focus across sectors and geographies, Chairman and Managing Director S N Subrahmanyan said in a statement.
L&T, widely seen as a barometer for India's infrastructure sector, said the Middle East accounted for about 11% of its 1.08 trillion rupee ($11.27 billion) order inflow during the three months ended June, compared with 47% in the previous quarter.
The region contributes nearly 29% of its overall revenue.
The company said quarterly revenue in infrastructure, its biggest segment, fell 3% from a year ago as supply-chain disruptions linked to the West Asia crisis weighed on execution.
"If these things stabilize during the current quarter, we would possibly see growth in revenue return back to this segment from H2 (second half) onwards," the company said in a post-earnings call on Tuesday.
L&T's consolidated net profit rose about 14% and revenue grew 6.7% for the June quarter. Its EBITDA margins contracted to 9% from 9.9% a year ago, as the company dealt with volatile commodity prices.
Its shares have lost 7.5% this year, outperforming the Nifty 50 index .NSEI as analysts see investors weighing the benefits of a strong domestic capex cycle against the risks from its significant international operations in a volatile region.
($1 = 95.8525 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Urvi Dugar; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Shreya Biswas)
((UrviManoj.Dugar@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9558725583;))
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