DLF's sales bookings to jump two-fold, may cross Rs 22.5 bn in FY19

Realty major DLF's sales bookings in 2018-19 may be higher than the Rs 22.50 billion guidance provided by the company at the beginning of this fiscal, driven by better demand for its completed inventories.

The sales bookings are likely to jump over two-fold this fiscal as the company had sold flats worth Rs 10 billion only, during 2017-18, due to a six-month suspension of sales to comply with the new real estate law.

Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) came into effect from May 2017.

According to an investor presentation, the company achieved gross sales bookings of Rs 7.8 billion and net sales bookings of Rs 6.25 billion during the second quarter of this fiscal.

"At the current sales momentum, it looks like the new sales bookings may cross our sales guidance of Rs 20-22.50 billion for this fiscal," DLF's group CFO Saurabh Chawla told analysts in a conference call last week.

During the first half of this fiscal, the company has already achieved gross sales bookings of Rs 14.50 billion and net sales bookings of Rs 12.25 billion.

DLF also sees good opportunity for itself from the current liquidity crisis in the NBFC sector, which it expects would lead to lower supply.

"DLF is well positioned to grab this opportunity as it has completed units to offer in the market," the company said in an investors presentation.

DLF said, it was focusing on monetising its finished inventory of about Rs 129 billion, which has reduced in last few quarters from about Rs 150 billion.

The sales of completed housing units would result in surplus cash flows that it plans to utilise in debt reduction, reinvestment in projects and build cash reserves.

DLF said it wants to "maintain high amount of cash on the books to mitigate any unforeseen circumstances/events".

The company targets to make its development (residential) business free from debt, which stood at around Rs 70 billion at the end of September quarter.

Apart from internal accruals, DLF said promoter infusion of Rs 22.50 billion against issue of warrants and proposed sales of shares through QIP (qualified institutional placement) would help the company in bringing down its net debt.

DLF is waiting for capital market to stabilise, to launch its QIP through which it is planning to raise about Rs 40 billion.

"We are waiting for a calmer market to launch QIP," Chawla told analysts. It plans to issue up to 173 million shares to qualified institutional investors to raise funds.

On Thursday, DLF reported an over 26-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 3.74 billion for the September quarter. Total income rose to Rs 23.04 billion in the July-September quarter of this fiscal from Rs 17.51 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.