Unitech posts 16% fall in full-year profit

Unitech Ltd on Sunday reported 16 per cent drop in consolidated net profit for fiscal ended March 31, 2011 at Rs 568 crore.

The real estate company said profits were lower than the previous year, since FY10 had seen asset sales (sale of hotels and office buildings) which typically have higher profitability than project sales. Unitech said it is targeting sales booking of Rs 5,000 crore for fiscal 2011-12.

During FY11, income from operations rose nearly 9 per cent to Rs 3,187 crore. But its real estate, construction and other expenses were 22 per cent higher than the previous year. The employee costs jumped 30 per cent during FY11. The company recorded 9 per cent growth in total income to Rs 3,292 crore.

“Naturally our expenses are higher than FY10 because last year our income was skewed towards asset sales, primarily in the first half. The FY11 income is from project sales and not asset sales,” a senior company official told Business Line .

A Unitech statement said the company would focus on monetisation of its diversified land bank through rapid launch and project execution, largely in the mid-income and affordable housing segment.

As on March 31, 2011, the promoters had pledged 68.06 per cent of their total holding (against 61.6 per cent in FY10). This is 33.06 per cent of the total share capital of the company (against 27.72 per cent in FY10).

Unitech's debt, net of cash, reduced by Rs 228 crore during the year, the statement said. The net debt is currently between Rs 5,300-5,400 crore, the official said. The real estate net debt to equity ratio stands at 0.46.

“Had the market not been conducive, we would not have aggressive in launching projects. We have launched over six million square feet since January 2011 spread across 16 projects. Our Q4 sales was pegged at about Rs 1,000 crore - in sync with the previous sequential quarter,” the official said.

It may be recalled that Unitech Ltd MD Mr Sanjay Chandra is among five corporate bigwigs accused in 2G spectrum case. Last week, the Delhi High Court dismissed Mr Chandra's bail plea. Unitech has been maintaining that “developments in on-going telecom matter will not have any adverse affect on the real estate company”. But analysts have been watching to see if the 2G case has any bearing on the day-to-day operations of the company – since Mr Chandra, until recently, was the public face of Unitech for investors and lenders.

On Friday, the Unitech stock gained 4.09 per cent to Rs 33.05 on the BSE.

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