Godrej Properties Q2 Results: Profit, Revenue Tumble Even As Construction Activity Rebounds

Godrej Properties Ltd.'s revenue and profit tumbled in the second quarter even as construction activity returned to normal, pointing to lingering pain for the real estate sector during the pandemic.

Revenue from operations slumped 66% over a year earlier to Rs 89.50 crore in the quarter ended September, according to its exchange filing.

• The total income, including other income, fell 36% year on year at Rs 238 crore.
• Net profit slumped 77% to Rs 7 crore.
• Total booking value fell 26% year-on year to Rs 1,074 crore.
• Bookings volume declined 23% to 1,728,995 square feet.

The company, however, said in its investor presentation that construction activity has resumed across sites and the workforce is now at 130% of the pre-pandemic strength as of September end. But it admitted that Covid-19-induced disruption persists.

“The real estate sector continues to be impacted by the pandemic but we believe this provides Godrej Properties with a tremendous opportunity to drive market share growth in residential real estate,” Pirojsha Godrej, executive chairman at Godrej Properties, said in a statement accompanying earnings.

“While our planned launches in the second quarter were postponed due to regulatory approval delays, we were happy to see one of our strongest ever quarters for sales from existing projects,” Godrej said. “With a robust launch pipeline in the second half of the financial year, we expect strong sales momentum during this period.”

The company added a new project in Mumbai with saleable area of about 1.5 million square feet in second quarter and a new project in Bengaluru with a saleable area of about 1.6 million sq. ft. in October.

Shares of Godrej Properties tumbled after the quaterly results and were trading 9% lower at 1:22 p.m. compared with a 1.2% rise in the benchmark Nifty 50.