Macrotech Developers on Tuesday reported a 24 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 286.38 crore for the quarter ended December on higher sales. Its net profit stood at Rs 231.71 crore in the year-ago period, according to a regulatory filing.
Mumbai-based Macrotech Developers markets its properties under Lodha brand. It has projects in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune.
Total income, too, increased to Rs 2,148.74 crore during the October-December quarter of this fiscal year as against Rs 1,599.77 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
On the operational front, the company said its sales bookings grew 40 per cent to Rs 2,608 crore. In London, the sales booking stood at around Rs 1,910 crore.
During the quarter, net debt for the India business came down sharply to Rs 9,896 crore thus achieving the full year guidance for FY22.
Macrotech Developers MD and CEO Abhishek Lodha said: “Housing market has seen a remarkable turnaround in last 12 months.”
Referring to its strong sales bookings, he said this reflects that the recovery in housing market has taken root and the multi-year up-cycle in housing market is well underway.
Lodha said the company is witnessing strong demand across its portfolio and at all price points.
On the supply side, Lodha said the consolidation is accelerating at a great pace.
“The accelerating consolidation in the market has presented to us several lucrative opportunities to add new projects across MMR and Pune through the capital light JDA (Joint Development Agreement) route,” Lodha said.
To capture these opportunities, he said the company has already raised Rs 4,000 crore from institutional investors.
During the quarter, Lodha said the company signed six more JDAs for 4.8 million square feet with Rs 10,000 crore gross development value.
“Since our IPO (April 21), we have now added 11 JDA projects totalling for ~8.8 million square feet with GDV potential of around Rs 14,600 crore, which gives us significant visibility of future growth,” Lodha said.
He said the company’s UK business continues to perform ahead of expectations.
“We are pleased that the USD 225 million bond will be pre-paid in the near future from the sales at our One Grosvenor Square development, well ahead of the bond maturity,” Lodha said.
On the outlook, he said the COVID has affected India in January.
However, he said: “It is heartening to note that the wave seems to be subsiding and global experts are envisaging that COVID-19, while endemic, is likely to become far less disruptive.”
Lodha expects housing demand to further strengthen during the course of the next 12 months on the back of strength in the Indian economy and supportive government policies for housing.
