Unitech net dips 2.3%, despite sales rising 26%

Unitech, the country’s second-largest property developer, has posted a 2.3 per cent dip in net profit for the July-September quarter due to a sharp rise in construction and development costs.

The company reported a net profit of Rs 173.7 crore in the three months ended September 30, as against Rs 177.9 crore in the same period last year. The construction and development costs increased two-fold to Rs 369 crore, compared with Rs 184 crore last year.

However, Unitech’s net sales rose 26.5 per cent to Rs 644.5crore, as against Rs 509.5 crore last year. The net debt to equity ratio was 0.5 on September 30 while net debt was Rs 5,707.3 crore, with cash and cash equivalents of Rs 1,004.3 crore.

Sanjay Chandra, managing director, said, “Heavy monsoons and shortage of labour due to the Commonwealth Games in the NCR region had a bearing on the performance. These factors, being temporary, are behind us. The overall environment continues to be positive and we expect our strategy of focusing on affordable housing to continue yielding good results.”

Unitech’s total pledged promoter shareholding (to the total shares outstanding) rose 31.9 per cent, as against 28.3 per cent last year. It did bookings for 4.99 million sq ft at an average realisation of Rs 4,631 a sq ft. It launched projects totalling 4.58 million sq ft.

“We have revised our project launch strategy to improve realisations by timing the launches to coincide with the commencement of construction,” Chandra added.

The net profit of DLF, the country’s largest property developer, fell 4.8 per cent in the July-September quarter, due to a sharp increase in the cost of land, plots and development rights.