"Improving sales and new projects launches lifted fourth quarter results," said Pirojsha Godrej, Executive Chairman, Godrej Properties.

Talking on sales, he said, “During the year, we made a very concerted effort to improve our sales from existing inventory because historically we have been very successful in launching new projects and most of our focus ended up being on those new launches. This year, we wanted to ensure that an equal if not greater focus was put on sales from existing inventories because those sales tend to general higher cash flow. During the year, we saw nearly tripling of those sales from existing inventory and this year for the first time, our sales from the existing inventory was higher than our sales from new launches.”

Godrej said the company added 12 new projects during the year and it represents the total development portfolio increase of about 23 million sq ft, out of which four projects are about 6 million sq ft in the fourth quarter.

This year, the realty company has ten new projects in store and about equal number of new phases within existing projects.

Godrej Properties, a realty company, reported over two-fold jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 141.51 crore on Friday for the January-March quarter of last fiscal on higher sales.

The net profit stood at Rs 62.59 crore in the year-ago period and the total income also rose sharply by 84% to Rs 848.56 crore from in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal from Rs 462.25 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Godrej said he was happy with the operating performance during the year as he claimed that it allowed the company to generate over Rs 1,800 crore of the positive operating cash flow which in turn allowed us to reduce net debt by about Rs 150 crore.

“We certainly won’t raise any further equity during FY19. We are quite hesitant to dilute current shareholders given the kind of value accretion we think is possible in this business,” Godrej added.

Godrej Industries has a majority stake in the Godrej Properties. The positive results led to a nearly 4% surge in the stock. Godrej Properties approved the placement of 1.27 crore equity shares at Rs 783.50 per share on Friday.

“We are excited about all the micro-markets. Each have their own supply-demand dynamics. Each have their own opportunities,” he further mentioned.

First Published:May 7, 2018 11:32 AM IST