Puravankara Projects to invest Rs 1,000 cr in Hotels

Bangalore: Puravankara Projects, a leading real estate company of Bangalore, plans to start work on four to five hotels in the next one year with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore. On completion of the projects, the company will be controlling an inventory of about 600 to 750 rooms.

Addressing a press conference to share the company’s third quarter financial results, Mr Ravi Ramu, Director and Chief Financial Officer, said with land for the projects having already been acquired the company was in the final stages of tie-up with reputed brands for awarding the management contract. He declined to give the names of the brands.

He said the first hotel, in the super luxury category, will be set up in Cochin while other properties will be located in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Coimbatore.

Profit up 122%

Aided by a 70 per cent increase in its revenue at Rs 150.52 crore during the quarter ended December 2007, Puravankara reported a net profit of Rs 69.6 crore, an increase of 122 per cent over the same period in the previous year. The figures for the corresponding quarter of FY 2007 were Rs 84.35 crore and Rs 28.4 crore respectively.

Net profit margins recorded a sharp increase this quarter to 42 per cent due to lower selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenues, Mr Ramu said adding the company’s effort was to maintain an average of over 35 per cent margin in the coming years.

Net profit for the nine months was up by over 103 per cent to Rs 167.34 crore compared to the Rs 82.61 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Revenues at Rs 411.94 crore for the period represent an increase of more than 49 per cent over the previous year.