Prestige Group plans Rs.1,000 cr capex for office, retail projects

Prestige Group has earmarked Rs.1,000 crore as capex for office, retail and hospitality projects this financial year.

“The capex is primarily to complete revenue generating projects which are in various stages of completion,” Venkat K Narayana, Executive Director & CFO, told BusinessLine.

“The company has adequate internal cash flow at the moment from real estate projects. Hence, our dependence on bank borrowings may be less this financial year (FY),” he added.

Financial closure on office space, retail and hospitality projects are half-way through and the company is expected to firm up by the end of second quarter this year. Talking about collections for the FY ended March 31, 2015, Venkat K Narayana said: “The company’s aggregated collection stood at ₹3,884.30 crore, up by 32 per cent from that of FY-14. (Prestige share is Rs.3,231.60 crore, up by 31 per cent from that of FY-14).

“Total collections during FY-14 stood at Rs.2,940.8 crore and Prestige share of collections were Rs.2,475.30 crore.”

The company sold 4,058 residential units and 0.81 million square feet of commercial space, totaling to 7.73 million square feet in FY 2014-15, amounting to  Rs.5,013.50 crore of sales, up by 13 per cent.

Of this, Prestige share is 3,716 residential units totaling to 6.69 million sq ft amounting to ₹4,362.50 crore of sales, up by 20 per cent. As for the launches in FY 2014-15, company launched 14.63 million sq ft of develop-able area.

During the year, the company delivered 8.92 million sq ft of develop-able area.

Q4 profit up 19%

Prestige Estates Projects Ltd’s profit was 19.59 per cent higher for the fourth quarter of 2014-15 on a standalone basis.

The company’s Q4 profit stood at Rs.113.78 crore against Rs.95.14 crore during the same period last year (2013-14).

Total income is also higher by 12.48 per cent at Rs.676.21 crore against Rs.601.16 crore recorded last year.

EPS basic stood at Rs.3.03 (last year Rs.2.72).