BS reported that Real estate developer Unitech Ltd reported a 47% fall in its net profit for the second quarter ended September 30 on the back of rising input cost and interest rate hike, among other factors.

The company’s net profit stood at INR 92.46 crore at the end of second quarter of 2011-12, against INR 173.76 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net sales for the quarter was INR 626.06 crore, down INR 18.45 crore from the income same period in the previous year.

Unitech achieved sales bookings of 1.8 million square feet worth over INR 1,068 crore this quarter, against 1.9 million square feet worth INR 1020 crore in the first quarter of 2011-12. In April to September, the real estate player, did sales bookings of 3.71 million square feet valued at INR 2088 crore. Of this, 0.48 million sq ft was in the non residential segment and 3.22 million square feet in the residential segment.

The expenditure was up 23.92% to touch INR 496.4 crore in the second quarter, compared to INR 400.57 crore in the same period last year.

Mr Ajay Chandra Unitech MD while calling the real estate environment challenging, said that apart from continuing with its strategy of offering products targeted at affordable/mid housing segments, the company has been taking various measures to not only deal with the current situation but also position itself to benefit once the business environment starts improving.

(Sourced from BS)