Sobha Ltd Q3 profit halves as land purchase costs surge, expenses up 51.7%

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's real estate developer Sobha Ltd on Tuesday reported that its third-quarter profit nearly halved, hit by higher land acquisition costs.

The Bengaluru-based company's consolidated net profit fell nearly 48% to 318 million rupees ($3.84 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31.

The company's total expenses surged 51.7% to 8.63 billion rupees, mainly as land purchase costs rose to 5.32 billion rupees from 232 million rupees a year ago.

Sobha's real estate liabilities also increased by nearly 27% to 65.45 billion in the quarter.

In contrast, peers DLF reported a near 37% rise in third-quarter profit, while Macrotech Developers' profit gained 41.4%.

However, Sobha's quarterly consolidated revenue from operations rose 39.51% to 8.68 billion rupees, helped by strong demand for new homes.

Ahead of the quarterly results, shares of Sobha closed 1.5% higher at 577.50 rupees.

($1 = 82.7200 Indian rupees)

 

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; editing by Eileen Soreng)