 "Godrej Properties net debt up 8% in June qtr at Rs 1,611 cr")
Realty firm Godrej Properties' net debt increased by 8% to over Rs 1,600 crore during the first quarter of this fiscal, while sales bookings were up 15% at Rs 606 crore.
Net debt of the company, which is the real estate arm of the Godrej Group, stood at Rs 1,611 crore at the end of the June quarter as against Rs 1,497 crore as on March 2013, according to the company's presentation to analysts.
The average borrowing cost stood at 11.4%.
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The net debt level has increased because the company has added new projects during the first quarter of 2013-14, a company official said.
Godrej has added two new projects with 1.85 million sq ft of saleable area in Q1 FY 14.
On the operational highlights, Godrej Properties achieved sales bookings of Rs 606 crore during the first quarter of this fiscal as against Rs 525 crore in the year-ago period.
In terms of area, the sales dropped by 28% to nearly 6 lakh sq ft during April-June period from 8.33 lakh sq ft in the corresponding period of last fiscal.
"Delivered growth in booking value despite adverse market conditions," the company said in the presentation. It also plans to raise Rs 700 crore through a Rights Issue.
Yesterday, the company had reported more than two-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 39.47 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal from Rs 17.15 crore in year-ago period.
Total income from operations fell to Rs 201.57 crore during April-June quarter of 2013-14 from Rs 226.10 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.
Other income jumped to Rs 42.71 crore during the quarter from Rs 6.69 crore in the year-ago period.
"Godrej Properties has delivered strong Y-o-Y earnings and bookings growth despite adverse market conditions. We continue to expand our development portfolio and signed two new deals in our target markets of Bangalore and NCR this quarter. We hope to sustain the momentum for the rest of FY 2014," Godrej Properties MD & CEO Pirojsha Godrej said.
The company's share price stood at Rs 514.75 on Friday on BSE. It has a market cap of over Rs 4,000 crore.
Godrej Properties is currently developing residential, commercial and township projects spread across approximately 85 million square feet in 12 cities.