Realty firm Macrotech Developers Ltd will deliver around 11,000 flats this fiscal as against 7,000 units in the previous year as it has ramped up construction work across all projects, its MD and CEO Abhishek Lodha said.
Mumbai-based Macrotech Developers, which is one of the leading real estate firms in the country, markets its properties under the Lodha brand. In an interview with PTI, Lodha said sentiment in the housing market remains strong.
"We continue to see strength in sales despite hike in interest rates on home loans," he said when asked whether there has been any slowdown in demand after the festive October-December quarter.
On business performance in the March quarter, Lodha said the company has been clocking quarterly sales of around Rs 3,000 crore and expressed confidence of achieving that number this quarter as well.
That apart, Lodha said the company would deliver "10,000 to 11,000 flats this fiscal year, a big ramp up from the previous fiscal year which was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic." In the 2021-22 financial year, Macrotech Developers had delivered around 7,000 flats.
On debt, Lodha said sales bookings and cash flows have been very strong so far this fiscal year, resulting in reduction in debt by Rs 753 crore in the December quarter to Rs 8,042 crore.
"We are hoping to reduce debt further by Rs 1,000 crore this fiscal to about Rs 7,000 crore," he said. The company plans to cut debt by Rs 500-800 crore every quarter. "We hope to be close to Rs 5,000 crore of net debt sometime by end of this calendar year," Lodha said.
Speaking on the overall operational performance so far this fiscal, Lodha said the company has done well in all three key metrics — sales bookings, embedded EBIDTA margin and addition of new land parcels for future development.
Macrotech Developers has sold properties worth Rs 9,039 crore in the first three quarters of this fiscal as against Rs 5,570 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The bulk of sales bookings or pre-sales was for housing projects. "We are on course to exceed our annual sales guidance of Rs 11,500 crore for FY'23," he said.
On new business development, Lodha said the company has added many land parcels so far this fiscal that have potential to generate sales revenue of Rs 17,800 crore as against the full-year new business development guidance of Rs 15,000 crore.
Macrotech Developers acquires land outright and also forms joint ventures with landowners to create land banks for future development.
The company will continue to focus on the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune markets. It has recently forayed into the Bengaluru residential market with one housing project and is in talks to add another one.
Macrotech Developers reported a 41 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 404.98 crore for the quarter ended December 2022. Its net profit stood at Rs 286.38 crore in the year-ago period.
However, the total income fell to Rs 1,902.44 crore in the third quarter of this fiscal from Rs 2,155.70 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Macrotech Developers has delivered around 90 million square feet of real estate and is currently developing around 107 million square feet under its ongoing and planned portfolio.
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