DLF eyes debt-free status in FY19 after stellar performance in Q3

The biggest real estate developer in the country, DLF, is planning to get rid of its entire debt in 2018-19 (FY19), after a stellar performance in the October-December (Q3) quarter of this financial year (FY18).

In Q3FY18, DLF’s profit jumped nearly 42 times to Rs 40.91 billion, after it sold a stake in its rental arm to GIC. In the same period of FY17, its profit was Rs 980 million. It now wants to use its large inventory of residential property as well as a proposed qualified institutional placement (QIP) to go debt-free. DLF’s net debt now is Rs 55.13 billion, after fund infusion by promoters, said a senior company official on Wednesday.

In a con-call with analysts, DLF’s Group Chief Financial Officer Saurabh Chawla, said, “We don’t see an issue in achieving this (paying off debt).”  

In late December last year, it paid creditors Rs 71 billion. Industry analysts claim DLF has started selling residential property again, since November, clocking sales of about Rs 6.7 billion till now.  The debt of the commercial real estate business, now reflected in DLF Cyber City Developers’ (DCCDL) books, is Rs 160.74 billion. DCCLD is a joint venture of DLF and GIC and has the bulk of the rent-yielding assets of the group. At the end of June last year, DLF’s debts stood at Rs 268 billion.