Kalpataru Limited (KALPATARU) Q1 2027 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Kalpatru Ltd. Q1-F527 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be listened only more, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Advaita Fathafur, Head Inverse Relations at Kalpataru Limited. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Fathafur.

Thank you, Ranju. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Q1 FY27 Results Call of Kalpataru Limited. We have with us today the management of Kalpataru Limited, represented by Mr. Parag Munod, Managing Director, Mr. Narendra Lodha, Executive Director, I would like to state that any forward-looking statements made during the discussion today are based on our current expectations, assumptions, and projections about future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties beyond our control. With that, I will now hand over the call to Mr. Munot for the opening remarks, post which we shall open the floor for Q&A. Over to you, sir.

Thank you, Adrit. Good morning, everyone, and a warm welcome to all of you. Before we dive into our quarterly operational and financial matrix, I want to take a step back and reflect on the macroeconomic background against which this quarter unfolded. Entering the first quarter of FY27, The global landscape faced significant turbulence, geopolitical friction in the Middle East, sent ripples through global supply chains, stoked energy price volatility, and raised fresh questions around inflation and rate trajectories. In many developed markets, this macro uncertainty led to extended decision cycles and institution caution. We witnessed in India, and specifically within urban real estate, was a remarkable demonstration of structural resilience. Historically, real estate was viewed primarily as a cyclical, rate-sensitive asset class. Today, Indian residential real estate, and Mumbai in particular, is being driven by a fundamentally different set of structural growth engines. We are seeing a rising number of high-earning end-users actively upgrading to larger premium homes that offer holistic lifestyle ecosystems generating steady demand for quality branded real estate. With that context in mind, Kalpatu delivered a steady start to the fiscal year, driven by operational momentum, robust sales collections, strategic projects launches, along with a new project addition and continued execution across our core micro-markets. Let me walk you through some of the key numbers. Pre-sales grew. 6% year-on-year to reach 1,329 crores in Quarter 1 FY27, up from 1,249 crores in Quarter 1 FY26. Sales collections showed a 17% year-on-year growth to 1,365 crores. Our cash flows visibility remain robust, backed by ongoing project inflows. Sales momentum at Kalpatru Park City, Thana, expanded significantly this quarter, with pre-sales surging 350% year-on-year, compared to quarter one FY26 on a subpar basis. With more than 2,000 families already residing on site, we anticipate welcoming over 3,000 families by the year end of next year. Increase in resident occupancy and key retail outlets turning operational are actively driving higher walk-ins and accelerate conversion rates in Kalpatru Park City. Coming to new launches, we launched two projects phases which have a total potential of 1.25 million square feet of saleable area. This includes Tower C of Estella at Kalpudur Park City Thane. And our luxury development, Kalpatru Viyan Rishikesh Lokanwala in Mumbai. Kalpatru Viyan Rishikesh features bespoke three, four, and four-and-a-half bedroom residences with expansive grand decks offering uninterrupted views of Mumbai's mangroves across a private four-acre enclave. Strategically, within the vibrant ecosystems of Andheri West, Kalpatru Vyan Rishikesh enjoys unmatched connectivity to key infrastructure, including major metro lines, upcoming coastal road projects, and the city's finest retail, educational, and wellness destinations. This project was launched toward the end of June 2026, and the response we have received has been encouraging. We have a strong pipeline of launches fed over approximately 5 million square feet and worth approximately Rs. 7,800 crores this year, and we hope to carry this momentum into other project spaces when we launch them. Turning to project completions. During the quarter, we received occupation certificate for 0.79 million square feet across 668 units. Continuing a strong track record of project execution and handovers. We received Occupation Certificate for Kalpatru Elites Tower B and Kalpatru Summit Office Complex in Moulin during this quarter. We are well on track to deliver on a target of 5.5 million square feet of competition this year. On the business development front, I'm pleased to share that we have secured a development agreement for the redevelopment of five societies in Ashok, Nagar, Kandivalis. This project is situated on approximately 2.8-acre land parcel and has a GDV potential of 1,250 crores. Kalpatru has deep roots in this micro-market and has already delivered six projects in the past. During the quarter, we have monetized our commercial office property, Kalpatru, in Phinia, Pune, located at Shivraaginagar, in Pune, for a consideration of Rs. 119 crores. With that, I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Chandrasekhar Zoglagar for a detailed update on our financial performance. Over to you, Chandrasekhar.

Thank you, Parag. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Q1 F527 earnings call. Let me start with the financial update first. In Q1, we reported revenue from operations of Rs. 472 crores. Our adjusted EBITDA during the quarter was 95 crores with the margin of 20%. On the profitability front, we reported a loss of Rs. 29 crores for the quarter. The company follows project completion method, as we know, for revenue recognition. For most of our projects, during H2, second half of FY27, we will be completing several projects as mentioned by Mr. Praag Manor, which will lead to recognition of substantial revenue and thereby profits. Turning to our balance sheet position, as on June 30, 2026, our gross debt stood at 9,189 crores. While our cash and cash equivalents were 960 crores, resulting into a net debt of Rs. 8,229 crores. Consequently, our net debt-to-equity ratio stands at two times. In continuation to our strategy for optimizing cost of the debt, during this quarter, we have refinanced a debt of approximately Rs. 1,800 crores. Which will give us an estimated annual savings of Rs. 55 crores in the finance cost. As a result of this refinancing, since our IPO, the total debt which stands refinanced is approximately 5,300 crores. Hence, our weighted average cost of borrowing now stands at 11% per annum, down by approximately 200 basis points since the listing. Good morning, everyone. Cumulative optimization of borrowing costs, therefore, adds to approximately Rs 180 crores annually. For reminder of financial year FY27, our focus is clear. To build upon the foundation we've established in Q1, we have a robust pipeline of new launches designed to sustain our pre-sales trajectory. Looking ahead to FY27, we target closing the year with pre-sales of approximately Rs. 6,500 crores. Which would be a growth of 23% over FY26. Keeping in view the capital allocation of upcoming launches and the business development spends, we expect the net debt levels to end for FY27 and to remain around the same levels of FY26. However... The net debt-equity ratio is expected to improve from current levels of 2 due to recognition of profits at the end of FY27. In closing, I wish to state that the company would be completing around 15 million square feet of ongoing projects in FY27, FY28, and FY29 gradually. All these projects will recognize revenue and profits in these three years. This will also strengthen our balance sheet and cash flows significantly and reduce the debt. With that, we would be happy to take your questions.

We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on a touchstone telephone.

If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2.

Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes on the line of Ashivam Gupta with Pranetra Asset Managers. Please come right now.

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. I want to like area sold increased by 48% in Q1, but pre-sale grew only 6%

as an average utilization fell. Was this entire due to project

mix or was there some discounting in specific project?

It is right, it was, sorry, yes, it was, it is right, it is due to project mix.

Okay, and the collection was strong around 1,365 crore, how much it came from the holder sold issuable, and how much was linked to booking made during the quarter?

The booking made during the quarter were not, they were marginal only, most of the collection was due to the units sold earlier.

And debt increasing from March to June. Can you please give us some bridge like where the cash was deployed during the autumn?

So, on the debt, the company is very clear. Directionally, it is going to be on the downside, year on year. Periodically, within quarters, it is possible that it may increase slightly or marginally due to the spend or investment or capital allocation onto the ongoing projects or the new projects which are acquired on the new BD. However, the trend would be generally on the downside.

Okay, sir. And earlier call, you have told like 1,800 to 1,800 of FI27 sales to come from new launches. How much of this already has been achieved in Q1, and does the four-year expectation remain changed? Yeah.

In this quarter, the 35% was from new sales, and as we had said, for the entire year, about 25% will be from new launches.

Okay. And what the expectation is, remain the same?

I'm sorry, expectation for the full year from new launches will be about 25%. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you may be a star and one to ask a question. Next question comes from the line of Oswara Gilda with JM Financial. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I just wanted to get a sense on the timeline for the launches that we've highlighted in the PPT. If you can share any update at what stages these launches are and when can we expect the launch of these projects? Are they back-ended or are well-spread across the next three quarters?

Hi, sir. They are well spread across three quarters. Blossom will happen in the next quarter. Estella, the one tower will happen in this quarter. Harineketan will happen this quarter. And Aadeen and Sumanagar will go next quarter.

Okay. Thanks for the update, sir. And just wanted to get a sense on pricing, sir. How are you seeing the last post-war recovery, specifically? How are you seeing the pricing trend across your projects and across the markets that you're operating?

We are seeing a positive trend towards walk-ins and conversion, and also the pricing is looking stable and strong.

Anything that you can quantify for maybe what's the expectation for the year in terms of pricing?

The pricing, generally, as the progress of the project goes, wherever we can see an increase, we are planning to move towards that.

How much the price increase shall be about? Thank you. Those were the questions. I will come back in the chat. Thank you so much.

Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you have a star and one to ask a question. Once again, a reminder to all the participants that you may press star and 1 to ask a question. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions, we have reached the end of question and answer session. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.

Thank you to all the participants for joining our results call. We look forward to regularly interacting with you. In case of any further questions, feel free to reach out to our investor relations or the Ernst & Young team for clarification. Thank you.

On behalf of Kalpatru Limited, let me improve this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.