Not in 'Rat Race' to be Top Builder in terms of sale bookings: Macrotech Developers MD

Realty firm Macrotech Developers is not in a "rat race" to become the top builder in terms of sale bookings and will rather focus on achieving consistent and predictable growth with high-profit margins, its MD and CEO Abhishek Lodha said.

Macrotech Developers, which markets its properties under Lodha brand, registered a 20 per cent growth in its sale bookings (pre-sales) to a record Rs 14,520 crore last fiscal from Rs 12,060 crore in the 2022-23 financial year.

It has given guidance of achieving 21 per cent annual growth in sale bookings this fiscal to Rs 17,500 crore.

When asked about the reason for setting a conservative sale bookings guidance considering that few players posted more than Rs 20,000 crore pre-sales in FY24 itself, Lodha told PTI, "We are not in any rat race and neither our shareholders are bothered about any such rat race."

"We want to achieve consistent growth. Consistent growth and predictable growth with low leverage is very important and that is our business model," he said in an interview with PTI.

Lodha stressed that achieving healthy growth in both topline (revenue) and bottom line (profit) was important.

"Our embedded EBIDTA (earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation) margin is more than 31 per cent, much higher than the market average," he asserted.

Lodha said the company has maintained for the last 2-3 years that it would target consistent 20 per cent annual growth in its sales bookings.

Macrotech Developers, which has a big presence in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune and just entered Bengaluru, will launch 17 housing projects this fiscal, having a revenue potential of Rs 12,000 crore, to boost its sales bookings.

The company will launch 10 new projects and seven new phases in existing residential projects during the 2024-25 fiscal across the three cities where it has a presence.

The total area to be launched is estimated at 10.1 million square feet with an estimated gross development value (GDV) of Rs 12,100 crore.

However, the company said the guidance for the launch pipeline of this fiscal might shoot up as it might acquire more land parcels and be able to launch housing projects on those sites in this financial year itself.

Even during FY24, Macrotech Developers cited that the company launched projects worth Rs 18,000 crore as against the guidance of Rs 13,000 crore.

Macrotech Developers, one of the leading real estate developers in India, is bullish on the overall demand scenario in the housing segment.

To encash this, the company will step up its investment this fiscal year in the construction of projects to over Rs 5,000 crore. It plans to add more land parcels for future development.

Lodha said the company is targeting to deliver more than 10,000 apartments during 2024-25 as against around 8,200 units in the last fiscal.

He highlighted that the company achieved all its major targets for 2023-24 related to pre-sales, new land acquisition and debt reduction amid strong housing demand.

Lodha exuded confidence that demand would sustain with India's housing sector probably being in the third year of a long-term upcycle, driven by high economic growth and rising consumer preference towards home ownership over renting.

Recently, Macrotech Developers reported an 11 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 665.5 crore in the March quarter from Rs 744.4 crore in the year-ago period.

The company's total income grew to Rs 4,083.9 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 3,271.7 crore a year ago.

During the 2023-24 fiscal, Macrotech Developers registered a three-fold jump in profit to Rs 1,549.1 crore from Rs 486.7 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal.

The company's total income rose to Rs 10,469.5 crore last fiscal from Rs 9,611.2 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal.

Its debt has come down to around Rs 3,000 crore.

The company also added many new land parcels last fiscal to build housing projects with a potential sales value of over Rs 20,000 crore.

Macrotech Developers has delivered around 100 million square feet of real estate and is currently developing more than 110 million square feet under its ongoing and planned portfolio.