L&T, India's top engineering and construction firm, has posted better-than-expected 38 percent rise in quarterly net profit.

The company reported a net profit of Rs 967 crore ($226 million) in the fiscal fourth quarter to end-March, compared to Rs 701 crore reported a year ago. The Q4 net sales were up at Rs 8467 from Rs 6248 crore.

For the year ended 31st March, 2008, the group reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,325.36 crore, a marginal growth over the year-ago period. The firm had a net profit of Rs 2,240.14 crore in FY'07.

Further, L&T has posted a standalone net profit of Rs 2,173.42 crore for the financial year ended 31st March, against Rs 1403.02 crore, same period, last year.
The total income grew 40.8 per cent to Rs 25,442.5 crore

The company has informed that its board has approved the bonus issue of one share for every share of Rs two held.

The board has also declared a total dividend of Rs 17 each, on every share of face value of Rs two, for 2007-08. The company expects to continue to grow at 35 percent in 2008/09. The future guidance is strong as infrastructure sector may grow at decent rate for next 3 – 4 quarters.