DLF net dips 63%, says worst behind it

Sales dropped 19% to Rs 2,039 cr

The net profit of DLF, the country’s largest realty company, dropped 62.8 per cent for the quarter ended September on the back of gloomy sales activity and economic slowdown.

The company said, ‘“The worst is behind us.” Net profit for the quarter was Rs 138.5 crore, down from Rs 372.4 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Analysts said steep cost of financing and high inflation continued to hit profitability. Income from operations (sales) dropped 19 per cent during the quarter to Rs 2,039 crore, compared to Rs 2,532 crore last year in the same period. Sales in the earlier, June, quarter were Rs 2,197 crore. However, the company did 1.59 million sq ft of sales bookings in the quarter versus 1.34 mn sq ft in the previous one. DLF stated it was well positioned to leverage its leadership, with planned launches in excess of nine mn sq ft during the second half of the financial year.

It leased 0.24 mn sq ft during the quarter. “The large rental portfolio continues to perform well, with better realisations. However, leasing volumes remain muted due to overall economic conditions,” said Ashok Tyagi, chief financial officer.

However, it cut total expenses marginally, to Rs 1,476 crore, down 3.7 per cent from Rs 1,534 crore last year. It did not reveal the net debt for the quarter but said the company realised Rs 560 crore from divestment of non-core assets. Net debt was Rs 22,680 crore as on June 30.

In August, it had announced the sale of its Mumbai NTC mill land to Lodha Developers for Rs 2,700 crore. It got Rs 500 crore of this in August and the balance in the first week of this month. “The closing of the transaction represents a major milestone in the company’s debt reduction objective and will be fully reflected in Q3 of the current fiscal year,” said Tyagi.

He added it continued to make steady progress on divestments, which included Aman Resorts and the wind energy businesses, being very confident of their closure within this financial year and to achieve net debt reduction to Rs 18,500 crore. Earlier, the company had targeted closing of all three sales (Aman, NTC mills and wind energy) by September.

Earnings per share for the quarter was Re 0.81.