Small BusinessDLF Q3 net debt rises to Rs 12,830 cr on biz consolidation
The country"s largest real estate company DLF today said its net debt has increased by nearly 6 per cent at Rs 12,830 crore mainly by the end of the third quarter due to consolidation of its business.
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"Our net debt by the end of third quarter stood at Rs 12,830 crore versus Rs 12,135 crore in the same period last fiscal mainly due to investments in consolidating our business; for example buying the stake of Laing O"Rourke," DLF Executive Director (Finance) Saurabh Chawla told analysts in a conference call.
Earlier this month, DLF bought out the 50 per cent stake of the England-based Laing O" Rourke in their construction joint venture DLF Laing O" Rourke for about Rs 50 crore.
Chawla said the company would carry on its debt reduction drive to become a zero debt firm in the medium-term.
The company has brought down the cost of borrowing to 10.6 per cent by the end of the December quarter from its earlier 11.9 per cent.
"We continue to take longer debt with cheaper rate to substitute old high cost debt," DLF Group Chief Financial Officer Ashok Tyagi said.
Yesterday DLF reported a 30 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December at Rs 468 crore as against Rs 671 crore in the same period last fiscal despite a 43 per cent jump in its consolidated revenue at Rs 2,152 crore from Rs 1,503 crore in the year-ago period.
DLF said it will continue to divest its non-core assets with a target to realise Rs 5,500 crore by the next fiscal. "We will continue with divestment of our non-core assets. The pace is slow as we are waiting for best market value... We have already raised Rs 1,234 crore in this fiscal and we should be able to have Rs 2,500 crore by the end of this fiscal," Chawla said.
The anticipated raising from divestment of non-core assets in this fiscal excludes selling of wind power business and exiting from the Dwarka Convention Centre, he said.
On the demand scenario, Chawla said, "The third quarter was a buoyant quarter and we expect this to continue in the fourth quarter also. The luxury segment outperformed market expectations. We believe that this is the time to capture the high margin luxury segment."
However, the commercial realty segment is lagging behind and demand is still subdued, he added.