The Hindu Business Line : DLF CFO’s declaration of share sales shakes realty

The Chief Financial Officer of DLF Ltd, Mr Ramesh Sanka, on Friday said he had recently sold one lakh shares of the company at Rs 300 each for “personal reasons”.

The top honcho, however, dismissed speculation that he had stepped down from his post.

“I have sold my DLF shares purely for personal reasons, as I needed funds. This sale took place on Monday, and I informed the stock exchanges. I clarify that I have not resigned and I am continuing with the company,” Mr Sanka told Business Line.

Mr Sanka said that he had brought DLF shares at Rs 525 a share when the company went public.

“I still have over three lakh shares in ESOP,” he clarified.

Stock show

The DLF stock on Friday touched a lifetime low of Rs 145 when the report broke out, but recovered following the official’s clarification that the sale was purely on personal grounds.

DLF, which is India’s largest real estate company, had reported over four per cent drop in its consolidated net profit for the second quarter ended September 2008 to Rs 1,935.3 crore. The drop in net profit was due to change in product mix towards the lower margin mid-income housing, and higher construction costs.

The realty stock was the worst affected with other realty stocks plunging after the DLF news. However, these too recovered subsequently.

DLF share finally ended Friday at Rs 220.50, down just over six per cent from the previous close.

Index

The realty index tumbled 23.8 per cent during intra-day but recovered to close with a marginal loss of 5.15 per cent over the previous day’s close.

The big losers among the realty stocks were Anant Raj Industries, Ansal Infrastructure, Orbit Co, Peninsular Land and Sobha Developers.

Most of the stocks also witnessed sharp jump in trading volumes. According to brokers, some big investors have offloaded realty stocks on Friday through block deals.

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