Quarterly earnings announcement. Margins take a dip.

Driven by the IPO money DLF showed a 5.5 fold increase in revenues however the profit margins dipping to 54.2% from 73.4%.

Unitech’s consolidated results, operating margin dropped to 41.5% in the March quarter, down from 64.3% in the December quarter. In the preceding three quarters, operating margin averaged 56.7%.

Parsvnath Developers Ltd saw a 32% increase in net sales however it posted a 17% decline in fiscal fourth-quarter net profit as it paid more taxes and construction costs rose. Margins fell from 32% to 20%

Sobha developers saw their PAT margins dropping to 14.7% from 17.3% even though it witnessed a revenue growth of 32.7%

Other than Akruti city which saw a PAT margin increase from 13.3% to 20.8% all the other real estate players saw their Q4 08 margins below their Q4 07 margins. The main reason attributed to this is the rising price of raw materials i.e. cements.

Indian developers are entering new businesses such as retail and hotel to diversify revenue stream and offset slowing demand for real estate projects due to 6 yr high lending rates and stringent financing norm companies are also launching mid-income housing projects and offering customized loan schemes to attract customers (Read affordable housing to know more about investments in the Affordable housing segment)