Lodha Group sells properties worth Rs 2,300 cr in Q2

Sales have grown by about 70% from same quarter of last fiscal

Realty major Lodha Developers sold properties worth Rs 2,300 crore during April-June period, its highest quarterly sales, beating demand slowdown in the real estate market, according to a top company official.

The Mumbai-based firm invested Rs 1,100 crore on construction of ongoing projects and achieved a record quarterly collection of Rs 2,600 crore during April-June period of 2017-18 fiscal, Lodha Group MD Abhishek Lodha said.

"For our India business, this has been a very strong quarter for us. We achieved a net sales of Rs 2,300 crore and a collection of Rs 2,600 crore. We delivered about 2,000 units during the quarter," Lodha told PTI.

The sales have grown by about 70 per cent from the same quarter of last fiscal, when the company did business of about Rs 1,300 crore.

Lodha said the company has been able to achieve healthy sales bookings because of strong focus on project execution.

"Our construction spend for the June quarter was Rs 1,100 crore. The focus on execution of projects is helping in huge employment generation. At present, we have about 26,000 workforce at our various project sites," Lodha said.

"We are strongly focused on delivery, which is a critical reason why customers are happy and investing in our projects," he said, adding that the overall investment on construction would be in the range of Rs 4,000-4,500 crore this fiscal.

Asked about new launches, Lodha said the company launched two projects during the first quarter of this fiscal and plans to have 8-10 projects more by March next year.

On London business, he said the company's sales bookings crossed 200 million pounds till June quarter.

Lodha's MD had recently pegged a sales revenue of 1.5 billion pounds (over Rs 12,000 crore) in the next three years from two ongoing housing projects in central London.

Lodha Group had forayed into the London realty market in 2013 with the acquisition of the landmark MacDonald House at 1 Grosvenor Square in prime Central London from the Canadian government for over GBP 300 million (Rs 3,100 crore).

The group acquired another site in central London, New Court at 48 Carey Street for 90 million pounds in 2014.

Lodha UK launched first project 'Lincoln Square' last year and the second project 'No 1 Grosvenor Square', located in the heart of Mayfair, last month.

Privately-held Lodha Group is currently developing around 41 million sq ft area and has 31 ongoing projects in London, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It has a land bank of 350 million sq ft for future development.