Highlights-
- The real estate firm, Orbit Corporation posted a consolidated total income of Rs 48.28 crore during the quarter ended December 2008 as compared to Rs 223.64 crore during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
- The consolidated net profit during the quarter declined by 95% to Rs 3.02 crore.
- The standalone net sales fell to Rs 8.26 crore during the quarter under review as compared to Rs 72.56 crore during the same period last year. The bottom-line however posted a net loss of Rs 5.9 crore during the quarter ended December 2008 as compared to a net profit of Rs 19.62 crore during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
- The company’s board has decided to merge its wholly owned subsidiary, Orbit Shelter with itself subject to necessary statutory and regulatory approvals.
- The company believes that the next 2 to 3 quarters are going to be extremely difficult as the real estate sector typically lags two-three quarters behind what is actually happening in the economy.
- The prices have corrected by nearly 30-35% and the sales are happening at the marked down prices. There is a huge demand for affordable housing currently.
- The 2-stimulus package introduced by the government is beginning to yield return and the sales have commenced over the last three-four weeks.
- The housing loan rate has started going down and the announcement by the State Bank of India to offer housing loan at 8% is a major positive, which will result in a flurry of sales at a lower end, provided prices don’t go up. However there is strong demand emanating from the ultra HNI segment.
- The company added no new projects during the quarter ended December 2008, and the company is concentrating on working on the existing bandwidth in order to complete the existing projects in time.
- Orbit Heights is completed and the company has recognised Rs 110.2 crore of revenue on this project till December 2008.
- 75% of Orbit Arya is complete, whereas 99.68% of Orbit Plaza is complete as on December 2008. Rs 164.9 crore and Rs 429.7 crore of revenue is recognised on the projects till December 2008.
- 33% of Hafeez Contractor house is complete and the company plans to complete the full project in the next 6-7 quarters.
- Thus the cumulative sales value of the company’s various portfolios till December 2008 is Rs 1584.2 crore, whereas the outstanding sales to be realized currently is Rs 484.3 crore.
- Total area available for sale was 34.05 lakh square feet of which sales achieved till December 2008 was 6.78 lakh square feet. Thus there were no fresh sales during the quarter ended December 2008.
- The average rate of sales for the company’s portfolio in various projects since 2004 are- Napean Sea Road and Worli (Rs 39,766 per square feet), Lower Parel (Rs 13,078 per square feet), Nana Chowk and Prathna Samaj (Rs 14,188 per square feet) and for BKC and Kalina (Rs 21,877 per square feet).
- The recent close in the Lower Parel area is around Rs 15,000 to Rs 16,000 per square feet with significant down payments, whereas in Napean Sea Road area the recent close is made at around Rs 40,000 per square feet with good down payment.
- The total debt as on December 2008 is Rs 655.69 crore, including a project level CCD in Orbit Highcity Pvt. ltd to the tune of Rs 200 crore.
- Around 212 crore of debt would have to be repaid during the period January 2009 to December 2009. This includes Rs 200 crore of NCD, which the company plans to restructure for a period of 3 years. Additional Rs 12 crore of term loan from LIC housing is falling due during the period.
- The net worth of the company as on December 2008 is Rs 544.92 crore and the debt-equity ratio is 1.20.
- The cash balance in the books of the company as on December 2008 is around Rs 7.2 crore.