HDIL Posts 187% Jump in Q4 net

Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) has posted a 187 per cent jump in profit after tax in the January-March quarter of FY 10. The company has posted a net profit of Rs 177.84 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 as compared to Rs 61.92 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2009. Total Income increased from Rs 388.77 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 to Rs 464.46 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010.

However, for the financial year 2009-10, the company posted a 28.15 per cent fall in net profit at Rs 596.65 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010 as compared to Rs 830.43 crore for the year ended March 31, 2009. Total Income decreased from Rs 1,814.57 crore for the year ended March 31, 2009 to Rs 1,599.58 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010.

The group has posted a net profit of Rs 56,657 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010 as compared to Rs 78,071 crore for the year ended March 31, 2009. Total Income has decreased from Rs 1,78,242 crore for the year ended March 31, 2009 to Rs 1,53,663 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010.

Unitech, the country's second-largest realty firm, has reported 43.64 per cent decline in its net profit for 2009-10 fiscal at Rs 675.05 crore, mainly due to lower margin in affordable housing projects. It had posted a net profit of Rs 1,197.71 crore in the previous financial year.

The net sales, however, rose marginally to Rs 2,931.33 crore in 2009-10 from Rs 2,889.74 crore in 2008-09, the company said in a filing to the National Stock Exchange. The company also announced a dividend of Rs 0.20 per share of face value of Rs 2 each for 2009-10, it added. Unitech spokesperson attributed the fall in net profit to lower margin in affordable segment in last fiscal. The company launched many projects in this segment under a separate brand ‘Uni Home'.

Moreover, he said the company had posted Rs 421.18 crore as other income from its telecom operations in 2008-09. The other income in last fiscal stood at only Rs 58.45 crore. Unitech has reduced its net debt by Rs 3,130 crore during last fiscal, and as on March 31, its net debt stood at Rs 5,281 crore.

In 2009-10, the company had launched over 30 new projects comprising 26.2 million sq ft, of which it has received bookings for over 16.6 million sq ft. “In the financial year 2009-10, the company made an impressive progress in terms of new project launches and sales bookings. The revival in the real estate market coupled with the company's attractive product range helped it to achieve an all time high sales booking of over Rs 7,000 crore,” Unitech managing director Sanjay Chandra said.

The affordable housing segment received an “overwhelming response” from the customers across cities, he added. Of the total 16.6 million sq ft sold, the residential segment comprised 13.5 million sq ft, while the balance 3.1 million sq ft were commercial spaces.

New Delhi-based property developer Omaxe Ltd reported a profit of Rs45.12 crore in the three months ended 31 March, compared with a loss of Rs41.62 crore a year earlier, as it benefited from increased demand from buyers in small cities. Net sales increased almost sixfold to Rs378.20 crore in the term from Rs64.01 crore in the year-ago period, Omaxe said.

For the full fiscal, Omaxe's net profit more than doubled to Rs112.54 crore from Rs46.72 crore in the previous 12 months. Net sales for the year ended 31 March rose to Rs1,001.2 crore from Rs798.7 crore in the previous fiscal. “Fiscal 2010 has been comparatively much better from fiscal 2009 for various reasons. The sales have improved considerably and especially in the tier II and III cities..,” said chairman and managing director Rohtas Goel.

Property developers are emerging from the downturn of 2008-09 that hurt demand for houses and apartments and caused prices to drop. Accelerating economic growth has led to renewed demand in the real estate sector. Omaxe's Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) margin, a key measure of operating profitability, rose to 19.6 per cent in 2009-10 from 18.5 per cent in 2008-09.

Still, margins have been under “a slight stress”, said Goel. He said consumer demand had prompted the company to restructure its property portfolio and convert proposed high-rise developments into so-called independent floors that typically consist of the ground plus two or three floors. The low-level developments offer lower margins. “Moreover, cost of some of our projects launched in 2006–07 have gone up due to addition of interest, which added to the stress on the margins,” Goel said.

Best Western Hotels Plans 14 More Hotels in India

Best Western India (BWI), a part of global hotel chain Best Western International, is looking to expand its presence in the mid-market segment. The company, which has 10 hotels in India at present, will set up an additional 14 hotels by 2012. The company, present in India since 2007, operates on a franchisee model and will come up with new properties in Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Mohali, Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad and Bangalore among other cities.

“The mid-market hotel segment which we cater too is witnessing acute shortage of rooms. As of now, there are about 20,000-odd rooms in this segment and the requirement is double this number. We are here to cater to this huge demand supply gap,” Sudhir Sinha, president & COO, Best Western India, said. He added that of the 14 hotels under construction, the majority will be completed by the end of this year, while the rest will come up by 2012. Sinha feels that the in ternational branding will help the company rope in more customers. “As the Indian hotel market matures, the supply and demand of hotel rooms will become more balanced. Revenue and profitability of hotels will be increasingly determined by the quality and level of services. Thus, hotels that invest in servicing and branding will be better positioned to compete in the future,” he said.