L&T to exit asset-heavy biz, have lot of cash generation in near term: CFO

Further, Raman said that the Middle East is preparing for life after oil and that is showing traction. "We see a fair bit of traction in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, on renewable power," he said, adding that solar is a big thing happening in Saudi Arabia and the company is a beneficiary of some of these larger projects that have come in from Saudi Arabia, the other parts of Middle East are also investing.

Speaking about the hydrocarbon business, he said: "Given that one-third of our revenues still come from international business and largely from the Middle East, the Middle East continues to spend a fair bit on hydrocarbon. The firm oil prices have encouraged them to carry on with their hydrocarbon investments."

The L&T CFO said that many of the orders that the company executed in fiscal FY23 were the result of the orders that the firm had accumulated in FY22 and towards the second half of FY21. The conglomerate's revenue has scaled up as FY23 has seen a lot of activity on ground, resulting in a 17 percent rise in revenue, he noted.

L&T reported lower-than-estimated March quarter (Q4FY23) earnings on Wednesday, with a 10 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,987 crore. Consolidated revenue from operations rose 10.4 percent. For FY23, the topline grew 17 percent and the bottomline surged 21 percent.

The L&T CFO expects the margin to start normalising by the fourth quarter of FY24.

The company's board has also recommended a final dividend of Rs 24 a share for FY23. Larsen & Toubro has declared 27 dividends since June 21, 2001. In the past 12 months, the company has declared an equity dividend amounting to Rs 22 per share.

Shares of L&T fell 5 percent in the opening trade on Thursday reacting to its January-March quarter performance. The stock was trading at Rs 2,292.70 on the NSE and was down by Rs 71.75 from yesterday's closing price.