The country’s leading Engineering and Construction Company by sales, Larsen & Toubro Ltd announced its result for the first quarter, posting a net profit of 13 per cent, primarily, driven by the sale of L&T's long-term investment in UltraTech Cement Ltd. The quantum in net profit is almost three times than previous quarter result with one time gain of $210 million. Larsen & Toubro Ltd had raised about 10.37 billion rupees, selling its entire 11.49% stake in UltraTech Cement on June 11, 2009.

Its net profit stood at 15.98 billion rupees for the April-June quarter, against 5.02 billion rupees a year ago. The firm reported 6.7% increase in sales that stood at 73.63 billion rupees in the first quarter, less than earlier estimates of 81.87 billion rupees. The company posted an increase in costs to 66.70 billion rupees in Q1, without giving any reason for the rise in costs.

For Q1, depreciation charges increased to 937.3 million rupees, as compared to 658.7 million rupees in the same period last year. Its EFS rose to 26.83 rupees from 8.60 rupees, including the one-time gain. Shares of the company declined nearly 3 per cent and were trading at Rs 1391.70 crore on the Bombay Stock Exchange.