Lancor Holdings Ltd. (LHL), is planning to tap opportunities in Tier-2 locations in Tamil Nadu as also the neighbouring States in the immediate-term to beat the slowdown blues in realty market.
While the Chennai-headquartered company is in the process of identifying the prospective locations in the State, it is also examining opportunities in Karnataka (Bengaluru), Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The company, in the meanwhile, has also been focusing on maintaining healthy balance sheet despite the stress due to slump in demand for new houses. “We have been prudent in availing debt, and are staying focused on maintaining comfortable debt-equity ratio (1.5:1). Also, restricted land acquisition and quicker development of land also helped in this process,” said Mallika Ravi, Group Chief Executive Officer, LHL.
The Rs.137-crore company, which is now celebrating 30 years in realty business, secures some portion of income through lease rentals. This year, it is hoping to garner good revenue through the premium house project Kiruba Cirrus in south Chennai, which has been completed now. It has 65 apartments. Each apartment ranges between 1724 sq ft and 2670 sq ft, and is priced in the range of Rs.2-3 crore. “It has a potential to fetch about Rs.80 crore revenue,” said R.V.Shekar, Chairman of the company.
The BSE-listed firm is also building a budget home project at the Sriperumbudur manufacturing corridor. These apartments will be priced in the range of Rs.13.5 lakh-15.5 lakh. It has land bank to develop five million sq ft of built-up space in residential segment in the future. It is looking at range of projects –– budget home to villa type –– in this space. It has so far developed a built-up area of four million sq. ft in residential space, and is presently developing two million sq. ft.
