DLF posts first ever quarterly loss, misses estimates

DLF posted its first ever quarterly net loss of Rs 41.9 million for the January-March quarter, weighed down by slowing home sales in a sluggish economy.

Losses of Rs 770 million in its insurance and hotel subsidiaries contributed to the overall quarterly loss, the company said in a statement late on Thursday.

DLF, which builds homes, offices and shopping malls, has lost about 61 per cent of its value since listing on the stock exchange in 2007, underperforming the wider market.

DLF was valued by the market at $6.5

billion as of Thursday's close.

The sale of homes in the area around capital city New Delhi, DLF's main market, fell 18 percent in the quarter ended March, the steepest regional drop in the country, according to Mumbai-based property data analysis firm Liases Foras.

DLF had reported a net profit of Rs 2.12 billion in the year ago quarter.

Revenues for the fiscal fourth quarter were down 15 per cent at Rs 22.3 billion from a year earlier.

Analysts on average expected the company to post net profit of Rs 1.9 billion on revenues of Rs 19.8 billion, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine.