Realty firm DLF plans to raise up to Rs 7,000 crore in the next 2-3 years from the sale of non-core assets to cut its net debt, which currently stands at Rs 21,424 crore.
In a presentation, DLF said it has raised the divestment target for non-core assets (including land parcels) to Rs 10,000 crore from Rs 4,500 crore earlier.
The company has already raised Rs 3,070 crore so far from divestment of non-core assets such as hotel plots and out of that, Rs 1,270 crore was garnered last fiscal.
“Non-core assets divestment to gain momentum... Rs 6,000-Rs 7,000 crore of assets divestment expected in next 2-3 years,” the company said, adding that it is hoping for higher realisation on some assets planned for sale this fiscal.
DLF said it aims to become a net debt-free entity in the next 3-4 years through internal accruals and sale of non-core assets.
However, the net debt of the company increased by Rs 552 crore during the fourth quarter of 2010-11 and stood at Rs 21,424 crore, mainly due to strategic investments in land aggregation and capex of Rs 1,800 crore last fiscal.
Besides the sale of non-core assets, the company expects to generate “faster cash flows” from operations.
Meanwhile, the company had reported a 19.19 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 344.54 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 from Rs 426.38 crore in the year-ago period.
Sales during Q4, however, increased by 34.53 per cent to Rs 2,683.09 crore from Rs 1,994.37 crore in the same period last year.
For the entire 2010-11, DLF’s consolidated net profit went down by 4.66 per cent to Rs 1,639.61 crore from Rs 1,719.84 crore in the previous fiscal. Its sales rose 28.8 per cent to Rs 9,560.57 crore from Rs 7,422.87 crore.
The company shares were trading at Rs 210.90 in the late afternoon on the Bombay Stock Exchange, down 3.68 per cent from yesterday’s close.