Vipul to invest Rs 4,500-mn for six hotels

New Delhi: Realty firm Vipul Ltd plans to invest Rs 450 crore for developing six hotels across the country.

The construction of three hotels at Mohali, Bhubaneswar and Siliguri would start this year, Finance Head Atul Bansal said, adding that other three hotels would come up at Amritsar, Ludhiana and Raipur. Sarovar Hotels and Resorts would manage these hotels.

'We are developing six hotels in the business category, each comprising 120-190 rooms,' he said.

Bansal said the total investment to develop these six hotels would be about Rs 450 crore, which would be funded through debt and equity in 2:1 ratio respectively.

The Gurgaon-based company today reported a 24 per cent drop in its net profit at Rs 9.25 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, against Rs 12.18 crore in the year-ago period.

On the reason for decline in profit, Bansal said: 'Cost of construction has gone up while the revenue recognised in the fourth quarter belonged to the projects sold much earlier and as such benefit has been given to the buyers by absorbing the increase in input cost resulting in drop in the margins'.

However, the company's revenue rose 49 per cent to Rs 81.07 crore during fourth quarter of 2007-08, against Rs 54.29 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.

For the year-ended March 31, 2008, Vipul posted a marginal increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 41.69 crore, against Rs 41.57 crore in the previous fiscal.

The consolidated revenue grew 35 per cent to Rs 288.49 crore in 2007-08, against Rs 214.37 crore in the previous fiscal. Vipul currently has 10 million sq ft of saleable area.