Bangalore-based real estate company Sobha Developers Ltd net profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2011, decreased 9.9 per cent to Rs 30.9 crore from Rs 34.3 crore corresponding period last year. The operational profit of the company registered a growth of 3.5 per cent to Rs 54.9 crore from Rs 53 crore.
The reason for the drop in net profit has been attributed to the rise in the manpower costs and the increase in tax liability during the quarter. The company now falls in the 30 per cent tax bracket, a rise of 10 per cent over the corresponding quarter last fiscal, the company said.
Commenting on the results company’s managing director J C Sharma said, “The Q1 results of the new financial year are quite satisfactory. Despite adverse environment, the company was able to sustain its new sales volume and improve its sales realisations and maintain margins. The company also launched six new projects to tally 3.48 million sq ft during the quarter and created ground work for launching about 8 million sq ft of new projects in the remaining quarters.”
With the new launches in last few months the company is poised to show good growth in volume of sales in this financial year, he added.
However, the company’s revenues rose marginally by 1.8 per cent to Rs 317.9 crore from Rs 312.1 crore. During the first quarter it completed and delivered one residential project measuring 0.30 million sq ft. During the same period it launched six new projects, five in Bangalore and one in Mysore region.
The company sold 665,660 sq ft space despite the challenging conditions. The average sales realisation has also moved up to Rs 4,547 per sq ft an increase of 11 per cent over the last year.
The company’s stock closed at Rs 242.20 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, down 1.16 per cent over the previous day’s close.
