The market had a set of expectations and when that L&T did not meet that, the stock price just tanked, nullifying the entire performance of the company for Q4FY13 given the difficult environment. The market also largely ignored the one share for two shares held bonus issue from L&T, celebrating its platinum jubilee year. Dividend has also been hiked to Rs.16.5/share from Rs.15.5/share. Thus the capital appreciation which a long term investor continues to get from L&T remains intact, just as its fundamentals do.

In terms of performance, for Q4FY13, net sales came in at Rs.20294 crore, up 10% (YoY) and up 31% on a sequential basis. There was an overall rise in operating expenses, up 12% (YoY). There was an other income fo Rs.374 crore, up from Rs.314 crore in Q4FY12 but much lower than 534 crore (QoQ). There has been a substantial increase in interest costs at Rs.281 crore, up from Rs.121 crore (YoY) and Rs.238 crore (QoQ). Total tax out for the quarter was down 22%. Net profit for Q4 was at Rs.1788 crore, down 7% YoY but up 59% on QoQ. The order Inflow during the quarter was at Rs.27929 crore, up 32%. For FY13, the company posted a net profit at Rs.4911 crore, up 10%. International order inflow constituted 17% of the total order inflow for the year. The major orders during the year came from Building & Factories, Power Transmission & Distribution, Transportation Infrastructure and Power sectors.

In terms of segmental break-up, E&C segment recorded a 16% growth in revenue and its order book showed a growth of 25% (YoY). EBIDTA margin of the segment is at 11.5% for FY13 v/s 12.7% FY12. Electrical & Electronics (E&E) segment showed a growth of just 5% due to depressed market conditions. EBDITA margin for the segment was at 13.6%. Machinery & Industrial Products (MIP) revenue was down 7%. Two subsidiaries – L&T Special Steel and another, L&T Shipbuilding  commenced comemercial operations during the year. Looking ahead, the company has guided an order inflow of around 20% and its revenue guidance is at around 15-16% for FY14. It expects EBIDTA margin at 11.5%, similar to FY13.