DLF sees sales bookings worth Rs 6k cr this year

DLF, India's largest listed realty developer, is looking at sales bookings of eight million sq ft worth Rs 6,000 crore in the current financial year (FY14).

The sales booking will come from the firm's two existing projects in the national capital region (NCR) and new projects in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Panchkula (Haryana) in north India and Chennai in south India, among others, said Ashok Tyagi, chief financial officer, in a conference call with analysts today.

In FY13, the company did sales bookings of 7.23 million sq ft worth Rs 3,815 crore.

According to Tyagi, DLF will spend Rs 3,300 crore on construction and Rs 1,500 crore in land and capex in FY14.

On Wednesday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had stayed the construction, sale and marketing of DLF's Crest project in Gurgaon, on a petition filed by the residents welfare association of DLF Park Place. Reacting to this, Tyagi said the company would represent its facts and hoped the issue would get resolved soon. The firm has sold 800,000 sq ft properties in the project at an average price of Rs 17,000 a sq ft.

On debt reduction, DLF hopes to achieve a net debt of Rs 17,121 crore by March 2014 through sale of Aman Resorts, wind divestments, and so on.

DLF had a net debt of Rs 21,731 crore as on April 1. "We are focused on reducing the debt by half in the next three years," Saurabh Chawla, executive director, told analysts in the conference call.

According to the presentation uploaded on its website, the company expects to have free cashflows by FY15 and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebidta) of Rs 8,200 crore in the next three years. "If we generate revenues of Rs 10,000 an year, we can achieve that kind of Ebidta," said Tyagi.

However, an analyst from a US-based brokerage firm pointed out that while the company's revenue target is achievable, the firm has taken three years to achieve the targeted Ebidta of Rs 8,200 crore.

The company's stock ended the day at Rs 194.85, down 5.41 per cent from the previous close.