Macrotech Developers Q4 earnings: PAT up 38% YoY, Board declares 1:1 bonus issue and dividend of 20%

The company said in a stock exchange filing that its Board of Directors have approved “Issuance of bonus equity shares in the proportion of 1 new fully paid up equity share of ₹10 each for every existing 1 equity share of ₹10 each held by the members of the Company as on the record date, subject to shareholders’ approval through postal ballot.” The total number of securities proposed to be issued via bonus issue is 48,18,05,547 fully paid-up equity shares and the 1:1 bonus issue will be issued out of share premium and capital redemption reserve account available as per the audited financial statements of the company for the financial year ended March 31, 2023. The company said the estimated date by which such bonus shares would be credited/dispatched is fixed within 2 months from the date of Board’s approval, i.e. latest by June 21, 2023.

The Board of Directors “Recommended a final dividend of ₹2 i.e. 20% per equity share of  10/- each of the Company on pre bonus paid up equity share capital (to be adjusted proportionately for bonus issue). Dividend will be paid to the shareholders holding equity shares on the record date to be determined by the Company after approval of the shareholders at the ensuing 28th Annual General Meeting,” informed Macrotech Developers to stock exchanges.

Macrotech Developers recorded a consolidated revenue from operations of ₹3,255.38 Cr during the quarter ended March 2023, down by 5.50% YoY from ₹3,444.56 Cr during the year-ago quarter. The company said its net income reached ₹3,271.71 Cr during Q4FY23 as against ₹3,481.92 Cr during Q4FY22. 

Its consolidated net expenses stood at ₹2,630.52 Cr during the quarter under review, down by 1.83% YoY from ₹2,679.61 Cr reported in the same quarter of FY22. The consolidated net profit of Macrotech Developers reached ₹746.18 Cr during Q4FY23, up by 38.70% YoY from ₹538.02 Cr during Q4FY22. The EPS of Macrotech Developers stood at ₹15.45 during the quarter ended March 2023 as compared to ₹11.12 recorded during the year-ago quarter.

Lodha achieves best-ever annual pre-sales of INR 12,064 crores in FY23, up by 34% YoY and March 2023 quarter recorded a pre-sales of ₹3,025 Cr. The EBITDA margins on pre-sales in FY23 was 32%; Q4FY23 reached 31%. The company said its net debt was down by INR 2,229 to INR 7,071 crores in FY23 and added 12 projects in FY23 for INR 19,800 crores GDV. Lodha said it ranked in top-10 among global real estate companies by Morningstar Sustainalytics in ESG during FY23. Lodha said its revenue from operations in FY23 reached INR 9,470 crores (+3% YoY); Q4FY23 at INR 3,255 crores whereas EBITDA in FY23 stood at INR 2,970 crores (-8% YoY); Q4FY23 at INR 977 crores. The net profit of Lodha reached INR 1,769 crores (+40% YoY) in FY23 and INR 751 Cr during Q4FY23.

Commenting on the performance, Mr. Abhishek Lodha, MD & CEO, Macrotech Developers Ltd. said, “We are extremely pleased to report our best ever annual pre-sales performance. What is even more heartening is that we have surpassed our full year guidance in the face of the steep increase in interest rates. Recent monetary policy announcement by the RBI of pause on interest rate front should stimulate the economy, create more jobs and thereby boost housing.”

“We delivered pre-sales at INR 12,064 crores for FY23 thus outperforming our annual guidance by registering a 34% yoy growth. The growth journey of Indian housing market on the back of rising incomes and favorable demography is just in the 2nd year of a multi-year cycle. Our strategy of capitalizing on industry consolidation by expanding into under-represented micro-markets of MMR and Pune is playing out well. Following our micro-market based growth strategy, in a short span of time, we have become a formidable player in Pune and Eastern Suburbs of MMR achieving INR 1,126 crores and INR 1,232 crores respectively. Price increase of nearly 8% for FY23 – below average wage growth, will lead to improvement in affordability and also reward existing home owners – both drivers of demand,” said Abhishek Lodha.

“Driven by strong demand fundamentals and supply consolidation, we are very confident of achieving 20% CAGR in pre-sales over medium term. In line with this, we expect to grow our pre-sales to INR ~14,500 crores in FY24. Our strong brand, unique sales & marketing abilities as well as our ability to quickly monetize any land asset continue to make landowners prefer Lodha for maximizing their land value. We added new projects with GDV (sales) potential of INR ~20,000 crores in FY23. This is in addition to the 11 projects added in previous financial year for INR ~15,000 crores. We expect to maintain a similar run-rate of new project additions primarily through JDAs on the back of robust business development pipeline. This will help us deliver our growth objectives in a predictable and consistent manner,” Abhishek Lodha further added.

“Lodha’s ability to reward its shareholders alongside growth is another of its unique strength. I am happy to share that we have commenced paying dividend from this year. Our board took note of the robust performance and decided to reward shareholders by way of a 1:1 bonus issue as well as dividend INR 2/ share (pre-bonus). As communicated earlier, as per our dividend policy, we intend to pay 15% to 20% of our PAT as dividend (subject to remaining below our internal debt ceiling). Lodha continues to demonstrate unique ability to generate surplus operating cash flow alongside substantial growth. This has enabled us to reduce our net debt by INR 2,229 crores to INR 7,071 crores in FY23 of which reduction of INR 971 crores was achieved in Q4FY23. Company also was able to bring down interest costs significantly during the year despite 250 bps increase in policy rates: average cost of debt for Lodha has come down by ~70 bps during the year to 9.8%. Lodha intends to continue to further reduce its net debt in FY24, focusing on going continually below our stated ceiling,” Abhishek Lodha further added.

On Friday, the shares of Macrotech Developers closed on the BSE at ₹907.95 apiece level, down by 3.68% from the previous close of ₹942.60.