DLF , the country's largest real estate company, on Tuesday reported a 12.81 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit for the first quarter ended June 30 at Rs 358.36 crore on higher expenditure and finance charges.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 411.03 crore in the corresponding period last year, DLF said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The consolidated sales during the first quarter, however, rose by 20.57 per cent to Rs 2,445.82 crore from Rs 2,028.53 crore in the year-ago period, it added.
DLF's total expenditure increased by about Rs 300 crore to Rs 1,505 crore during the June quarter primarily on land, development rights and constructed properties. The finance charges rose to Rs 496.41 crore from Rs 388.44 crore.
On sale of non-core assets, DLF said that it realised Rs 165 crore during the April-June quarter of this fiscal.
In May, the company had said that it has increased the divestment target for non-core assets (
including land parcels ) to Rs 10,000 crore from Rs 4,500 crore earlier.
Till last fiscal, the company had already raised Rs 3,070 crore from sale of non-core assets such as hotel plots and plans to raise another Rs 7,000 crore in the next 2-3 years to reduce its debt that stood at Rs 21,424 crore by March-end.
In a statement, DLF Group Chief Financial Officer Ashok Tyagi said: "While debt levels have remained similar to the previous quarter, our momentum on the non-core asset/business divestments have gathered pace and these coupled with operational cash flows will help us in moderating our current debt levels".
DLF achieved a sales booking of 2.2 million sq ft in the first quarter of this fiscal as against 1.9 million sq ft in the same quarter of last year.
Tyagi said DLF would continue to focus on launching plots, which enables it to mitigate the current inflationary environment and accelerate our cash flows.
He pointed out that the successive hikes in interest rates by RBI should have a moderating impact on demand.
DLF also said that Income Tax authorities have slapped notice for nearly Rs 550 crore during the April-June quarter and the company has challenged the order with "appropriate authorities".
"...the company received an assessment order for assessment year 2008-09 from the Income Tax authorities, creating an additional demand of Rs 546.85 crore, out of which Rs 487.23 crore pertains to demand on account of dis-allowance of SEZ profit under section 80IAB of Income Tax Act," it added.
Special 
