Lodha announced its financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2024. The Company reported its best ever quarterly Pre-sales performance of INR 42.9bn despite the inauspicious ‘Shradhh’ period falling in September this FY (vs October in FY24). The Company sold land for Data Centre at Palava to a global data center major at INR ~120mn per acre, making the emergence of Palava as key data center hub. The Company also added four more projects in Pune and Bengaluru during the quarter with total GDV of INR 55bn.
Commenting on the performance, Mr. Abhishek Lodha, MD & CEO, Macrotech Developers Ltd. said, “We achieved our best ever quarterly Pre-sales performance of INR 42.9bn in Q2FY25 which is a seasonally weak quarter due to Monsoons. Additionally, the quarter was impacted by the inauspicious ‘Shraddh’ period in September this year (vs. October in FY24) as well as excessive rains. Despite this disruption, we achieved our 3nd consecutive quarter of INR 40bn+ Pre-sales showcasing the consistency and predictability in our business model. What was heartening to note is that these strong Pre-sales have come along side robust embedded EBITDA margins of 34% indicating a continued strong profitability in the underlying business. We have achieved INR 83bn of Pre-sales in H1FY25 and with the festive season well underway, we are on track to achieve our guidance of INR 175bn Pre-sales for FY25. Early signs of festive season suggest robust demand for quality branded housing on the back of strong affordability and consumer optimism. Intense competition among mortgage providers coupled with the expected downward trajectory for rate cycle in the 2HFY25 will provide further tailwind for the sector especially in the mid-income segment where we have a sizeable presence.
We added two projects each in Pune and Bengaluru with GDV of INR 17bn and 38bn respectively. Our project additions in Bengaluru will enable our planned acceleration from next year onwards. Overall business development for the 1st half of the fiscal stands at INR 166bn, which is >75% of full year guidance of INR 210bn. We continue to see a strong pipeline of business development opportunities for our residential business giving us a strong growth visibility.
We are pleased to have completed our first transaction for setting up Data Centers at Palava with one of the largest operators in the world. This marks the emergence of Palava as a key Data Centre hub and we expect demand for this asset class to scale up significantly with the AI and data revolutions that are underway. This is an example of how value will be unlocked at Palava in ways which could not have been foreseen even a few quarters ago.
We also acquired ~45 acres of land for our Digital Infrastructure (warehousing and industrial) business in Chennai, as well as increased our stake in the Digital Infrastructure platform to ~67% (from earlier 33%). This is in line with our strategy to grow annuity income to INR 15bn by FY31. Despite significant investments in Business Development in this quarter, our net debt stands at INR 49bn (0.27x Net Debt/ Equity) - well below our ceiling of 0.5x Net Debt/Equity. Our exit cost of debt continues to go down and for 2QFY25 stands at 8.9% (down ~20 bps for the quarter) - among the lowest in the industry.”
