Sobha Developers Q3 net dips 88%

Sobha Developers, the Bangalore-based real estate developer, has reported a 88 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 7.5 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2008, as compared to Rs 61 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal.

The topline too declined 48 per cent to Rs 183 crore as against Rs 355 crore. The operating profit too fell 52 per cent as the company was caught in a grip of "most challenging environment."

J C Sharma, managing director, Sobha Developers said: "The present quarter in these trying times have seen demand shrinking resulting in liquidity crunch, which is further impacted by the banks taking a conservative approach in lending to the realty sector."

He added that in spite of many proactive measures taken by the government and RBI including rate cuts, stimulus packages for selective sectors it has not helped the realty sector so far.

"We have been taking exceptional steps in de-resking the company from slowdown, by introducing several measures like cost reduction, reduction of the prices of our products, aggresive marketing, introducing attractive payment terms ensuring that the customer gets the maximum value," Sharma detailed.

He noted that these measures have been positive and the present realty prices have come to a realistic level where potential customers can look for value buying.