Unitech Q2 net profit down 48% at Rs 25.57 crore

NEW DELHI: Real estate firm Untiech today reported a 48% drop in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, weighed down by slow sales and higher costs.

Net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 25.57 crore compared to Rs 49.19 crore a year ago.

Net sales during the quarter stood at Rs 595.75 crore, up 10.36% from Rs 539.82 crore during the same quarter last year. The company’s net debt has risen to Rs 6,240 crore as of September 30, 2013 from around Rs 6,000 crore in the previous quarter.

“Prevailing challenging macro-economic environment had a strong bearing on the demand for real estate in the company’s key markets during the second quarter. With the onset of the festive season, there has been a gradual improvement in demand and the company has been taking measures to boost sales. Company has recently resumed launch of new residential projects and the initial response has been quite encouraging,” said Sanjay Chandra, managing director of Unitech.

Unitech achieved sales bookings of 1.05 million sq ft at an average realization of Rs 6,830 per sq ft in the quarter. It achieved residential sales bookings of 0.92 million sq ft valued at Rs 510 crore while non-residential sales bookings stood at 0.13 million sq ft valued at Rs 207 crore.

The company has been able to lease significant amounts of office space at its commercial projects in Gurgaon. It recently leased 8.1 lakh sq ft of space in its under-construction Gurgaon IT SEZ to Accenture and another 800,000 sq ft in its Gurgaon Infospace Tikri SEZ.

“A number of blue chip multinational companies have leased space in our projects. Demand for office space is a good lead indicator of employment generation and residential demand in that area. We, therefore, expect the healthy growth in office space leasing in our projects to lead to an increase in demand for our residential projects in the neighbourhood,” said Chandra.