Unitech FY07 net up 15-fold; to spend Rs25K cr

Enthused by three fold growth in top line, the country's largest listed realty firm Unitech will invest Rs 25,000 crore over the next four years for the development of commercial, retail, hospitality and residential properties.

"We will invest about Rs 25,000 crore in the next four years to develop residential, commercial, retail properties and build hotels... Rs 10,000 crore would be invested in hospitality and shopping malls, Rs 5,000 crore in developing office space and about 9,000 crore in residential properties, Sanjay Chandra, MD, Unitech said.

Chandra said the company would also set up 28 hotels, of which construction work on four has already started.

The hotels would come up in markets where the company is already operating such as national capital region, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad.

Updated at 1449 hrs: Real estate developer Unitech today posted nearly 15-fold growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,305.49 crore for the year ended March 31, when compared with Rs 87.64 crore in the same period a year ago.

Consolidated total income of the Ramesh Chandra-promoted company rose by over three times to Rs 3,388.36 crore for FY07, when compared with Rs 954.50 crore for FY06, a company statement said.

The board of directors of the company, which is the country's largest listed real estate firm with a market capitalisation of nearly $11 billion, today recommended issue of bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1.

This is the second bonus issue from the company in the last 12 months.

According to an official release issued by the company to the BSE today, the board has also recommended: a dividend of 25% i.e. 50 paise per share for FY07.