Prestige Group’s Q2 sales booking up 9 per cent despite slowdown in property market

Realty firm Prestige Estates Projects’ sales bookings rose 9 per cent year-on-year to ₹1,123.3 crore during September quarter on better demand for its residential properties despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bengaluru-based real estate developer had reported a sales booking of ₹1,026.3 crore in the year-ago period.

According to a company’s investors presentation, Prestige Group’s sales booking in the first six months of 2020-21 declined to ₹1,584.4 crore from ₹2,042.5 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Housing sales were badly affected during April-June because of the national lockdown, which was imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease. According to PropTiger.com, housing sales in eight major cities fell 54 per cent year-on-year in January-September 2020 to 1,23,725 units.

The demand has been gradually improving from July onwards, especially for those players who have a better track record of executing real estate projects on time.

During April-September period, Prestige Group launched three new residential projects. Its rental income from leased commercial assets stood at ₹404 crore in the first half of this fiscal year, the presentation said.

Prestige Group’s net debt stood at ₹8,667.6 crore at the end of the second quarter with an average borrowing cost of 9.65 per cent. In a bid to reduce its debt significantly, Prestige Group is selling a large portfolio of its commercial assets -- office, shopping malls and hotels -- to global investment firm Blackstone for over ₹9,000 crore.

The term sheets between the two parties have already been signed and the deal is likely to be concluded next month.

Prestige Estates Projects recently reported 40 per cent fall in consolidated net profit at ₹93.8 crore for the quarter ended September. It had posted a net profit of ₹157.2 crore in the year-ago period. The total income stood at ₹1,916.7 crore in the second quarter of this financial year as against ₹1,962.7 crore in the year-ago period. Prestige Group has so far completed 247 projects covering 134 million sq ft area.

In housing segment, the company has completed 118 projects and is currently developing 30 more projects.

Prestige has completed 36 million sq ft of office space and 15 million sq ft area is under construction. In shopping mall segment, it has completed 7 million sq ft and is building another 3 million sq ft area. In hotel business, Prestige has 1,262 keys and is developing 1,229 keys.