Unitech Q2 net falls by 2% to Rs 174cr

Real estate major Unitech today reported a 2.3 per cent fall in its consolidated net profit to Rs 173.76 crore for the quarter ended September and attributed the decline to monsoon and shortage of labour in the national capital region because of the Commonwealth Games.

Unitech, the country's second largest realty firm, had posted a net profit of Rs 177.86 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

Net sales, however, rose by 26.5 per cent to Rs 644.51 crore during June-September quarter of this fiscal against Rs 509.49 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal, Unitech said in a filing to National Stock Exchange.

"Heavy monsoons and shortage of labour due to the Commonwealth Games in the NCR region had a bearing on the company's performance during the quarter. These factors, being temporary, are behind us," Unitech Managing Director Sanjay Chandra said in a statement.

In the first half of this fiscal, net profit rose by 5.41 per cent to Rs 353.80 crore compared to the first half of the previous fiscal. The total income grew by 41.27 per cent in total income to Rs 1,518.49 crores for the half year ended September 30, 2010.

Chandra noted that the overall environment continues to be positive and expected that company's strategy of focusing on affordable housing would continue yielding good results.

Unitech said it has a healthy balance sheet with net debt to equity ratio within the targeted range of 0.50. As of September 30, the company had a net debt of Rs 5,707.26 crore and cash and cash equivalents of Rs 1,004.29 crore.

In the first six months of this fiscal, Unitech achieved sales bookings for 5 million sq ft at an average realisation of Rs 4,631 per sq ft. The total value of sales bookings was Rs 2,312 crore.

Chandra said the company has recently revised its project launch strategy to improve realisations by timing the launches to coincide with the commencement of construction.