Sobha New Sales Value At 11-Quarter High In October-December

Real estate developer Sobha Ltd. witnessed its highest new sales in terms of value in 11 quarters during the October-December period.

The Bengaluru-based company's new sales were up 52 percent at 9.33 lakh square feet, compared to 6.12 lakh square feet a year ago. In value terms, these grew 64 percent to Rs 610.5 crore as against Rs 373.2 crore in the year ago period, Sobha said in an exchange filing on Friday.

The South India focused company launched two new projects—one each in Bengaluru and Thrissur—with total saleable area of 0.98 million square feet, the filing said. The company said it also saw sales improvement visibility in Kochi, Thrissur, Gurgaon, Coimbatore and Mysore aside of its primary market Bengaluru.

Here's what brokerages had to say:

Morgan Stanley

• Rating: Overweight, with target price of Rs 605.
• Expect good pickup in new sales in 2018.
• Sales contribution breakdown – Bangalore 69 percent, Gurgaon 9 percent, Kochi 12 percent, others 10 percent.
• Kochi sales up 74 percent quarter on quarter to 0.1 million sq. ft.

CLSA

• Rating: Maintain Buy; revise target price to Rs 760 from Rs 606 earlier.
• Expect pre-sales momentum to continue in the quarters ahead.
• Raise FY18 pre-sales estimate by 7 percent.
• Raise FY19-CY20 earnings by 4-5 percent.