Sobha Ltd shares fell nearly 5 percent on March 22 after the real estate developer informed exchanges of an Income Tax search at its registered office and other premises.
"All concerned employees of the company are extending their full cooperation to the officials," said the company.
At 10:45am, the stock was quoting at Rs 494.20 on the NSE, lower by 4.7 percent. It is down 34.4 percent from its 52-week high level and has bled 15 percent in 2023 so far.
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Local media reported that the raids began on Monday by I-T officials of the Bengaluru and Chennai divisions. The company's factories making wood, aluminium, and concrete products were also searched.
Troubles have been mounting for the developer. In January, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had cancelled the Occupancy Certificate (OC) of the 2,000-unit Sobha City apartment in Thanisandra Main Road. It alleged that the apartment builder had submitted a fake no objection Certificate (NOC) of the Fire Department.
Prior to that in December, the Enforcement Directorate had attached Sobha's land assets in Kerala worth Rs 201 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). Since then, the stock has fallen 26 percent.
The company's Q3 performance was not much encouraging either. It reported a 48 percent on-year decline in consolidated profit at Rs 31.8 crore for the quarter ended December FY23, impacted by weak operating performance.
Revenue surged 40 percent on-year to Rs 868.2 crore for the quarter, with highest ever quarterly sales volume of 1.48 million square feet, however, EBITDA fell 41 percent YoY to Rs 88.8 crore.
