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Mumbai, May 29 (UNI) Construction major Larsen&Toubro has recommended a final dividend of Rs 13 per share for the year ended March 31, 2007, with an interim dividend of Rs 11 per share having already been declared on March 13.

The Company has also announced its plans to invest around Rs 3,700 crore in the next few years in new areas of growth like ship-building and power equipment manufacturing.

The dividend declared in the previous year was Rs 22 per share.

The L&T Board, which met today, recommended the further Rs 2 per share dividend taking the final dividend to Rs 13 per share.

After the Board meeting, Company chairman and managing director A M Naik told reporters, ''The Company has posted a net profit after tax of Rs 1403 crore for the year ended March 31, an increase of 39 per cent over the previous year's PAT of Rs 1012 crore. Similarly, PAT for the quarter ended March 31 was at Rs 701 crore, an increase of 50 per cent over the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The gross sales and services revenue was Rs 6366 crore for the quarter ended March 31, an increase of 36 per cent compared to Rs 4695 crore of the corresponding period in the previous year.

Excluding exceptional gains, PAT for the year ended March 31, grew by 60 per cent while PAT for the quarter ended March 31, registered a growth of 53 per cent, Mr Naik said. All the business segments of the Company registered impressive growths in their operating margins, he said.

The Group registered a year-on-year increase of 25 per cent in the Total Income which stood at Rs 21,342 crore for the year ended March 31. The Group PAT for the year 2006-07 stood at Rs 2240 crore, posting an impressive growth of 70 per cent over the previous year. Excluding exceptional gains, the Group PAT was higher by 72 per cent over the previous year.

The Engineering and Construction (E&C) segment revenues for the year ended March 31 stood at Rs 13,425 crore, an increase of 16 per cent over the previous year. The share of export revenue represented 18 per cent of the segment revenues.

Total revenue from business under Machinery and Industrial Products segment during the year ended March 31 was Rs 1843 crore, posting a healthy increase of 25 per cent over the previous year.

The Company has launched aggressive capacity expansion programmes and has ventured into new areas of growth like ship-building and power equipment manufacturing to support its growth ambition. The Company has decided to invest about Rs 3,700 crore in these sections for the next couple of years. L&T would set up 24 new power plants in the next few years, Mr Naik said.

UNI