Can A.M. Naik bring back L&T’s glory days?
Criticized for staying too long at the helm, the 78-year-old may be the company’s only hope of cashing in on the government’s coming infra push.
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Editor's note: On 31 August, Larsen & Toubro Ltd finally concluded the sale of its electrical and automation division to French energy management and automation firm Schneider Electric. The deal will fetch the Mumbai-based engineering and construction behemoth Rs 14,000 crore in cash. Analysts and investors have long waited and watched on the sidelines, hoping that the company will part with some of that money by announcing a special dividend. L&T hasn’t so far said anything about what it intends to do with the cash. When the deal was first inked in 2018, L&T CEO and managing director S.N. Subrahmanyan had said, “This all-cash deal will help us create a much stronger balance sheet, thereby creating long-term value opportunities for our stakeholders by focusing on key aspects of the business.” A lot has changed since then. The COVID-19 pandemic-induced shutdown has slowed business, severely impacting the firm’s revenue and profits. In its results for the quarter ended 30 June, revenue was down 28%, while order bookings fell 38%. Its senior management has had to take sharp pay cuts, and its finances are …
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