(Reuters) -India’s DLF reported an 18% jump in first-quarter profit on Monday as strong demand for premium apartments outweighed higher costs, mainly tied to more land parcels acquired.
The property firm reported consolidated net profit of 7.63 billion rupees ($87.1 million) for the three months ended June 30.
Revenue from operations nearly doubled to 27.17 billion rupees, while expense jumped 94% 24.66 billion rupees as land costs trebled.
KEY CONTEXT
Indian real estate developers have been racing across the country to buy more land and launch new projects to cater to home-buyers who increasingly prefer larger, pricier apartments with more amenities.
Analysts noted that the first quarter signalled a rebound for India’s real estate industry due to faster approvals and streamlined policies, leading to increased momentum, after weaknesses in approvals weighed on fresh launches in 2024.
However, land costs weighed on developers’ margins, with DLF’s gross margins for the reported quarter contracting to 28% from 51% a year ago.
Profits at peer Sobha more than doubled last month, while that at of Godrej Properties rose 15.4%.
PEER COMPARISON
Estimates (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBITD Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div
A growth (%) growth (%) rating* analyst price yield
s target** (%)
DLF 41.37 52.88 18.29 2.88 Buy 21 0.83 0.77
Max Estates 6591.67 96.58 25.66 -361.42 Strong 4 0.66 –
Buy
Godrej Properties 33.30 59.31 37.05 29.68 Buy 19 0.76 –
Signatureglobal 25.91 21.80 54.87 167.70 Strong 5 0.67 –
Buy
* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** The ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
APRIL-JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
— $1 = 87.6220 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
