Construction major, L&T has reported an encouraging 43 per cent increase in net profit for the second quarter till September, 2012.

The company's net profit rose to Rs. 1,140 crore compared to Rs. 798 crore during the same quarter of the previous year mainly due to a major boost by a onetime gain of Rs. 214 crore. Analysts were expecting a net profit of about Rs. 908 crore.

Sales of India's biggest engineering and construction group increased 17 per cent to Rs. 13,195 crore compared to Rs. 11,240 crore recorded during the same period of the previous month. The Ebitda margins was mostly in line with market expectations at 10.6 per cent.

An order inflow of Rs. 20,967 crore was recorded during the second quarter. The total order book of the company now stands at a whopping Rs1.58 lakh crore. The order inflow for the first half of the financial year now stands at Rs. 40,400 crore and the company has a target of Rs. 80,000- Rs. 84,000 crore for the entire financial year.

Shares of the company were trading 2 per cent higher at Rs. 1,668 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) this afternoon.