Good day, and welcome to Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited Q4 and full year FY 2023 earnings conference call. On the call today, we have from the management, Mr. Arvind Subramanian, Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Amit Kumar Sinha, Non-Executive Director and Board Member, Mahindra Lifespace, Mr. Vimal Agarwal, Chief Financial Officer, and Mr. Rabindra Basu, Head of Investor Relations. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in a listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Arvind Subramanian. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good morning, greetings, and welcome all to our Q4 and FY 2023 earnings call. Before I get into my rapturous rambles, I must offer the perfunctory preamble. Do bear in mind our business resides in many parts. Consolidating them financially will call upon all your smarts. So adding individual lines, you must desist, and extrapolating recent past to distant future, certainly resist. This is my twelfth and concluding opportunity to your notice to bring highlights of the business and our team's paeans to sing. Indulge me a few moments. I promise to make good time. With the business on song, as you can see, it emboldens, emboldens me to rhyme. Many of you have been with us long, steadfast and true. Others have reposed faith in us more recently, some even recommitting anew.
You've all been demanding, yet fair, always willing us on, rousing us to draw on all three faculties: heart, brain, and brawn. I'd like to tee off the highlights with our IC & IC business this time, whose voice has risen to a crescendo from a chime. Jaipur led the way. Origins Chennai has come to the party, too, winning coveted clients of every industry, country, and hue. Awaken the sleeping giant was both your and my ask. In response, the team clocked INR 456 crore leasing, no mean task. Bringing our 2025 target forward by two full years, bringing in valuable cash, deserving our plaudits and cheers. Residential pre-sales continues to motor along. Customers on new launches expectantly throng. Nestalgia, Eden, and Citadel, new flags on our map. Sustained sales advanced unabated, as if on tap.
INR 1,812 crore pre-sales, healthy price increases, an added boon, demonstrates our acuity, our business's economic engine to tune. With marketing, design, and sales all kicking into new gear, INR 2,500 crore well in sight, 10,000 should evoke no fear. INR 650 crore of operating cash is where the rubber hits the road. Ownership and tenacity, our construction teams showed, accelerating project schedules, enabling brisk billing. INR 1,165 crore collection followed, customers were more than willing. Strong internal accruals provided fuel, land acquisitions to pursue. By INR 3,200 crore and another INR 850 this week, our GDV accretion grew. Society redevelopment and plotted, new forays we pursued. Our BD and legal teams, a INR 5,500 crore deal pipeline have brewed. The year gone by has been a defining one as we journey to find our rightful place in the sun.
I now pass the baton to a new leader in line, under whom I expect the business will further shine. I cherish with immense pride our teams all around, indomitable self-belief, and a spirit of adventure abound. You make me proud, make me look good, putting shoulder to wheel. It's been an exceptional privilege, a fantasy leap. Let me hand over to Vimal for the financial summary.
Thank you, Arvind, for such a wonderful start for the day and for the call. Good morning, everyone. Moving on to the key financial numbers for the quarter. The consolidated total income stood at INR 270.3 crore as against INR 155 crore in Q4 FY 2022. The consolidated EBITDA, including other income and share of profit from JVs, stood at a profit of INR 10.4 crore as against a loss of INR 15.1 crore in Q4 FY 2022. The consolidated PAT after non-controlling interest stood at INR 0.5 crore, as against a profit of INR 136.8 crore in Q4 FY 2022. The company has debt of INR 265 crore at consolidated level as per Ind AS, while cash in hand and bank, including surplus investment, stands at INR 273.6 crore.
Cost of debt was 8.2%, and our consolidated free cash flow after land and related payouts for Q4 FY 2023 stood at INR 142 crores, as against INR 79 crore in Q4 FY 2022. I now request if you can open the floor for questions, please. Thank you.
Thank you very much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on your touchtone phone now. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking our questions. We will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. To ask question, please press star one now. We take our first question from the line of Parikshit Kandpal from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, team. Congratulations on a great year. Quite a way to start the call. So, Arvind, I don't have any questions today. I just want to thank you for all you have done in this company in the last three years, taking it to the new height and outperforming almost 2x in all the accounts. So, I'll individually catch up with Amit later on, on his strategy for the next phase of growth. But wish you all the best. I think possibly I will miss you, but I wish you all the best. That's all I want to say. Thank you.
Thank you, Parikshit.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Himanshu Upadhyay from o3 Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, Arvind. I agree with what Parikshit said, that the company has done pretty well over a period of time. And you have given a new ambition to the company. I hope the company delivers on that. But I will have queries, okay? Because that is my job. See, this is.
I completely agree. Please go ahead.
Yeah. So this is on slide 11, okay? We did consolidated payout of INR 101 crore, okay? Let's say, but the net worth has grown only by INR 17 crore, okay? Both are after non-controlling interest. Has there been any adjustments made in the net worth of the company on the consolidated level, and what was that for?
So, fundamentally, the key event which had happened in quarter three was merger of entities in the south to give heft to MWCDL, as well as ensure seamless upstreaming of cash. And that's one accounting which changed. Earlier, we used to show, I think, about INR 37 crore or something, as a minority interest in one of that entity. And there was a goodwill which was there. So it's largely the changes which you are seeing is largely coming off of the accounting, which we did, which we did in quarter three.
Okay. And the next question was on this IC business, okay? We had a pretty strong Q4 FY23, okay? But the gross margin seems to have dipped quite materially, okay. Any specific reason for that these gross margins have come off in the IC business? Because with more volume going up, our expectation was margins would have been higher or better, okay, Q4.
Yeah, no, so absolutely valid observation. I'll just give some more sort of color to the overall numbers here. See, we have got three or four key assets. For example, Jaipur World City and Chennai World City, apart from Chennai Origins and others. If you look at the total inventory, which we are right now holding, that will be, I think, north of say, 200 acres or so. The parks are sort of distributed across India, and so is the gross margin. For example, Jaipur operates usually upwards of 65%-70%, versus others, which may be little different. On a weighted average basis, if you look at four-quarter performance or maybe say eight-quarter performance, gross margins will be upwards of 55%-60%.
Within that, you will always have instances and, say Origins Chennai, which has got a lower margin, which, in quarter four, adds up to most of the inventory. At an overall basis, I request and I'll ask you to actually go back and look at what we said seven, eight quarters back. One of the key objective was to monetize IC & IC, generate cash, use that cash to fuel residential business. And the key point is, Arvind talked about the cash surplus, and that's where we are. Cash is getting generated. We are using it to reduce our borrowings in the IC business. We are putting that money to generate residential business, land acquisition, et cetera. On a weighted average basis, our gross margins in IC business are extremely strong.
One question we have, I have on this MWC Chennai, okay? So we are trying to buy more land at outside the Mahindra World City, Chennai, okay? So the new land acqui- means outside the MWC Chennai, are in MWC Chennai or they are in Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited means?
I think this comment is more to do with the... Again, I'll go back to the Origins had two phases. Origins phase one is a collaboration with Sumitomo Corporation, and outside of that land parcel, we have got about 250 acres of land, which is, which we are calling it out as phase two. It's still in the development and sort of a strategy phase. We are thinking through as to what is to be done, and that's the land which is adjoining the Origins, Chennai. I think the question, Himanshu, you are asking about Origins or you're asking about World City?
No, I was asking about World City. Okay.
Yeah. So Himanshu, the phase II land for Origins Chennai is in the books of World City. That's it.
Okay. Okay, one last thing, Arvind, in terms of how do you look at the costs in the business, okay? And is there means how focused are we on doing the reducing the cost or managing the cost in the business? Because we have seen significant growth, okay, but margins are still work in progress, okay. And are we really running an efficient ship, or you think there is something, some more work on the cost sides can be done? Means can be at the project level also, and it can be at the corporate level also. Can you give some idea on that?
So I see a couple of points here, and the important one, which is, again, go back to, say, one or two years, where we always talked about our focus on growing residential business. So three years back, we talked about the INR 2,500 crore when we were averaging it at about INR 680 crore-INR 690 crore. And the whole objective there was to get the right people at the right place so that we can really build this organization for many years to come. And therefore, investment on the people side is being done, layer one and layer two put together. Similarly, there are two more key heads. One is the marketing head. If you look at our historic two or three years, our marketing costs usually have been lower than industry sort of benchmark.
One reason is that because our launches, et cetera, really, really are very robust, and therefore we tend to invest less. However, at the same time, our, our desire to build a strong brand, which Mahindra is today, we want to continue to invest and therefore do not intend to hold back so far as marketing-related expenses are concerned, at least over the next one or two years. The third cost really is the overhead cost, which are usual ones. We again look at it as percentage, not as percentage of revenue, but as percentage of pre-sales. So if you were to look at FY 2023 numbers, our percentage to pre-sales, Resi plus IC put together, will be best in class across all four cost lines, which is employee cost, admin cost, marketing cost, and, depreciation plus interest.
That's the long and short of it. We'll continue to invest. You will see some costs, fixed costs going up, but in terms of percentage, you will continue to see decline.
Okay, thanks. I'll join back for further queries.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Rohit Poti from Marshmallow Capital. Please go ahead. Mr. Rohit Poti, your line has been unmuted. Please go and ask your question. If you have muted yourself, on your device, please unmute yourself and ask your question. As we are not getting any response from Mr. Rohit's line, we move to the next question. Next question is from line of Pritesh Sheth from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. Congrats on, you know, great performance in FY 2023, and all the best, Arvind, for your, you know, future endeavors. You know, you have had a very successful tenure with Mahindra Lifespace, and thanks for the progress that we see right now in the company. My first question is, again, continuing on the margins, which previous participant has asked. You know, I think right now, a few of the legacy projects are, you know, getting completed, where probably we didn't have better margins. When should we expect that, you know, these margins should improve on the P&L front? I mean, last couple of years, we have had, I think, good launches with, you know, focus on profitability.
So, by when should we start seeing them in P&L?
Yes. So, let me take this question. This is Amit Sinha. As I've been looking at the margin profile of the past projects, I'd like to highlight three points. One is, as you've seen, we've had a huge successful set of launches in the last four quarters for sure, as well as the year before. And those projects have been launched with, I would say, right pricing, right market-to-market, right set of value proposition for customer. And most of the impact will start to happen in the next four to eight quarters as most of these projects start to complete. And that is where that will start to see that our margin profile will start to improve, especially on the residential side.
The second point is about the current launches that we are thinking in terms of delivering a product which is outstanding, which meets the customer expectations in line with our brand, in line with the unique propositions we have on the sustainability, on the efficiency of design in terms of technology. And we feel that all those things that we are able to bring to customer will have a improvement on the pricing aspect, which is extremely valuable when you are sourcing land from the market, when you are doing the cost of construction in the current environment. So we need to make sure we get the value reflected in the price, the brand, the design, the sustainability, the technology, all the unique value propositions. So that's the second piece I see.
The impact will start to come over the next, you know, next eight quarters, because, you know, those projects have just been launched or being launched, so you'll see the effect of those in the subsequent quarters. And the third part is how do we manage the velocity of sales, versus the revenue recognition? I think as we have seen, the market is quite buoyant. We are able to see, hey, in certain projects, if are we should we hold back for such slightly better pricing, or should we release that inventory? That's a very disciplined exercise that we have carried and started to do it really well in the last few months, but that is going to give us a slightly better improvement on pricing again. The way we manage our mix of sales versus inventory, and it'll again reflect in our margins.
But to answer your question in a very short manner, the impact you'll see in the next eight quarters, because that's where the revenue recognition will start to happen.
Probably FY 2024 should still be like, you know, subdued in terms of profit margin recognition, but from 2025 onwards we can see that improvement. Is it fair to assume?
Yeah, that's what, you know, that's what our current belief is.
Sure. What should we, you know, what are the broad gross margins that you are seeing for the sales that you are doing right now? Because that would ideally drive the profit improvement, you know, in P&L as well.
Yeah. So, two points to this. One is the definition of gross margin itself, and frankly, when we talk about gross margin, it's an all-in cost. To an extent, we do not sort of, sort of keep the definition where the gross margin looks high. Usually you can expect gross margins for us, and when I say gross margin, I'm including interest costs and overhead costs as well into the number. It should be closer to 18%-20%.
18%-20%. Hello?
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah. Okay, okay. And since we are now venturing into redevelopments as well, would the margin profile be similar? Or since you know those are projects which are largely in Mumbai, we know that margin profile should be a bit higher.
Yeah, my sense is the new acquisitions which we are doing, including redevelopment, we should certainly see a favorable or equity gross margin.
Got it. Fair enough. And lastly on, you know, FY 2024, in terms of how we look forward to, just if you can broadly guide us through the launches that you expect, you know, this year. Probably, Kandivali, we have already started seeing, you know, some bit of marketing activities from, maybe from the channel partner broker side. But, you know, what are the launches expected in this year, and what should be the size? Yeah.
So let me give. So we have a bunch of launches planned in this year. I'll give you broad, given we are waiting RERA, we are waiting all the clearances, so I don't want to go into full details, but there are nine launches that we have planned for this year, going from Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4. And Kandivali, which is a key part of that launch, Citadel Phase Two is the key part of that launch, and then there are other seven launches that we have. I must tell you that we are being thoughtful about bringing these launches to the market, given each of them are in different micro market, different cities.
So we are not only aligned with the approval process, but also how the market sentiments are likely to be at the time of the launch. Two of these nine launches are from the recent acquisition. You heard about the new win, that is the second redevelopment that we have won. That is also included. Our sense is we'll be able to push it by Q4, but it's an early stage. We'll have to work really hard to do the approvals and all the design completed by then. So total nine launches planned for the year. A couple of them are on a tight deadline, which we are working hard towards.
Sure. So it includes for now, both the redevelopment, but, you know, at least you expect any one to happen this year and probably second to spill over next year?
Yeah. So yeah, absolutely. Yes. Yeah.
Okay. Does it include the Dahisar as well?
Dahisar, you know, we are watching. Dahisar is not included right now, because there are certain approvals that are awaited. We want to launch when all the approvals are in place.
Sure, sure. Perfect. That's it from my side. All the best.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Amit Dalal from Tata Investment Corporation. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, Arvind, or good morning, yes, sorry. Congratulations on having achieved what you started out as your target over the last three years or two and a half years that you've been with us. Good luck in whatever endeavor you have planned ahead. You know, I have only one question, and this is for all real estate firms. All real estate firms are always in an investment phase, and that, and now with this Ind AS, it has made it very difficult for real estate firms to distribute to the shareholders. As much as the cash flow from past projects is what the shareholders should finally get a distribution of some income, the future project investments are capital, both equity and debt, depending on what allocations are made by the company. Would you all consider small buybacks?
We, no, so let me put my dual hat right now from M&M as well as MLDL. I think the buyback we are not contemplating at this time, 'cause we already have. M&M has 51%+ stake in MLDL.
We have an increase in stake because of the buyback. It's a participatory buyback of promoter and non-promoter. It's a tender buyback.
Yeah. So, you know, no plans as of now, but if our scale-up plan needs any kind of support, we will consider that. But as of now, no, no plans.
Please take it to the board to consider 1% or 2% of the issued capital so that we get some dividend yield at least.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well taken. Well taken, Amit.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Prolin Nandu from Goldfish Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks a lot, Arvind. An amazing stint at Mahindra, like this. So a couple of questions for you. You know, I mean, in two and a half years, you have been able to achieve a lot, and still, but in overall, overall scheme of things, there is still a very long way to go for the company, and it had all the right ingredients to become, you know, one of the largest real estate companies in India. So what was it that... And we have seen this group, M&M Group, doing lots of things differently than what they were done in the past in terms of getting into EV, right? So what was it that, within the group, they were not able to meet your aspirations, right?
You had to look outside, right? Because I'm sure that, journey from, I mean, you know, for the last two and a half years has been very rewarding, but it would have been equally rewarding to probably take this company to a INR 10,000 crore kind of a residential sale, sales journey. So what was it that, was missing? I mean, what was the difference of opinion that you had with the management, or could you give some color for your exit, the reason for your exit?
Since I started with poetry, let me stay with that theme. Lewis Carroll's famous poem, Walrus and the Carpenter. "The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things, shoes and ships and ceiling racks and cabbages and kings." It's not the time to talk about my departure or reason for departure. I think we should look forward and see kind of where we are. I believe the best days of the company are still ahead of us. I have always said, consistently maintained that, you know, our aspiration is much larger. Even the goals that we articulated of INR 2,500 crore, et cetera, INR 500 crore on industrial, were always intended to be just the first step in a journey, and I feel confident we are on that journey.
There's a lot that this company can achieve. The potential is enormous.
If I can add, Prolin, Amit here, I think, while Arvind might be leaving the organization, he's leaving a part of his legacy with us. He's done a lot, and it's our duty and responsibility to build on the work, to build on the platform he's created. Most critically, what I feel very proud is that the team at MLDL has huge amount of confidence that they can take on 5,000 or 10,000, as you eloquently put in your poem, Arvind. That confidence is extremely valuable in any organization. I think targets become less important if the team has confidence. We'll continue to have those three things that I mentioned in our call when we had last call.
One is scale up, built on the confidence that we have gotten under Arvind's leadership, not only in the first level of leadership, but across the organization. The second is customer centricity. I think this is a market where our brand, our differentiation, will give us much, much, much better financial outcome. And third is always focus on the financial prudence. What are the right things from financial point of view? Don't just scale for the sake of scale. Think about the financial outcomes, for our investors, our employees, our organization. So all that is built on what, Arvind, you have set in motion, and hopefully, we'll share periodic news about our progress along that path.
Thank you, Amit. You're very kind.
Yeah, thanks a lot, Arvind and Amit, for this answer. I have one more question for Arvind, before I have a question for Amit. So Arvind, we all can see the scale and what all things that you have done, no doubt, and then as an organization, where we have reached. But if you were to probably point out two, three misses, right, in your tenure, what would that be?
Look, I think on every dimension, while we've grown the business significantly, I would say, there's still more that could have been done. You know, land acquisition has been a good story, but, you know, there is still that desire or that little bit further stretch we could have taken, similarly with sales. I think it's a journey, and you never get all of it right. Overall, I'm extremely satisfied, extremely proud. I look back with an immense amount of satisfaction at what the team has achieved. And it's, you know, it's been like Amit pointed out, the standout for me has just been the self-belief and kind of conviction that the team has, that there can be a much different future than the past.
Sure. Sure, Arvind. So now, I have a couple of questions for Amit. Amit, the first question would be, that, you know, I mean, you have experience of working with this group, right? Since 2020, if I'm not wrong. And so, but, I mean, to have that relevant experience of real estate, how do you bridge that gap, right? I mean, what are the two, three things that you would like to keep in mind for the next couple of years to bridge that domain expertise, right? And in the same breath, let me ask the second question as well, right? If you look at the very long history of this group, right?
I mean, there has always been this transition of management, right, in sometimes new CEO, and finally, we have found a, I mean, you know, a stable, leadership, right, in sometimes. So how do you align those fears as well, that we are not getting back to the same track of what we were before again?
Yeah, yeah, no, fair question. I think I'm glad you raised it. I think, you know, this, this came up in the first call I had, my personal experience, but I'll keep it short this time. I think at the end, it's a, it's, it's a team sport, this, this business. It's not about any one individual. And, and if you look at the, the leadership team that we have at Mahindra MLDL, and the leadership team that supports them, is, it's outstanding. And I think that makes the... If there are gaps that we, I need to personally fill, is made up by the, the team that is already there in, in, in existence with their supporting team, sub-teams. So that's the first part.
Personally, I think there are two areas which are very useful to append to the skills that are needed to be successful. One is the group understanding of how the group works, how the capital allocation works, how synergies can be fully extracted, how do you balance the sales momentum versus profitability? Many of these things are something that I've learned over the last two years. In fact, I used to run the strategy and capital allocation. So, good understanding of how to work very closely and leverage the brand strength across multiple areas. And part two B is about my personal experience prior to Mahindra. I was in consulting, similar to Arvind, and I had the pleasure of working with many industrial companies.
I'll put them into real estate developers, EPC companies, the largest construction companies, top, top, out of top 10, I worked with top five. So the construction part is very well understood, especially the contracting part is very well understood to me, and then many infrastructure companies in, in the space. So all those learnings are going to be very useful as we look at the next phase of, Mahindra Lifespace. And your second part about the transition, you know, very well understood. And, you know, I think, this is a long-range industry. A product takes five years to come out.
You need to make sure there's a continuity, and every effort will be made, is being made to make sure the continuity at the leadership level, at the senior most, as well as the next level, the next level direct reports to MD and CEO. So all those transitions are going to be, if at all they happen, they're going to be well supported by other leaders. And more importantly, over the last three years, under Arvind's leadership, a lot of processes and systems that have been put in place. So that allows us to make sure that the capabilities, differences, differentiations, all institutional, it's not individual-centric. So if one person has to move on for personal or professional reasons, the others are able to build up based on their expertise, but also the institutional capability that exists.
So those are the two quick answers to your two questions. Let me know if you need any double click on any one of them.
No, no, that's great, Amit. Good to know, and we will probably interact in the future call. But, thanks a lot for this, and all the best, Arvind, for your future endeavors.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you, Prolin.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Raaj, from Arjav Partners. Please go ahead.
Hello. Hello. Yes, sir, am I audible?
Yeah, please go ahead.
Yes, please go ahead.
Yeah. So you said you have inventory of around 1,200 acres, right? So how much would be the sale value of it?
Sale value of that will be about INR 5,000 crore.
INR 5,000 crore, can we expect? All right. And in how much time can we expect this to come into the books?
The inventory is actually upwards of about 1,400 acres, and therefore, I said about INR 5,000 crore can be the expected value. Second one, I'd say is a good question. We'll come back to you.
Sorry?
Second one, I'll say is a good question. I don't have a ready answer to that, so I'd rather stay with the guidance which we have given.
All right. All right. Looking at the margin improvement which you have said, so we expect the improvement will be from FY 2025, right?
Yeah. I just to add to that, to see what's happening is, and all of have, have really seen the journey on that front, is the whole commodity price challenges which a lot of industries saw about, say, a year or two years back. That part is behind us. And so far as our current projects are running, including the recently launched ones, are doing well. Having said that, there are projects which were launched in 2016, 2017, et cetera, which are coming to closure as we speak, and there we will see some challenges. But from trajectory point of view, year on year, you will continue to see improvement in margins for sure. F 2025, certainly, yes.
All right. Looking at the properties which you have launched, right? So how much is the value of those things in FY 2024? I think you have launched around nine properties, right?
Yeah. FY 2023, we launched.
Nine.
Either new projects or new phases of the existing projects.
Launch inventory was 3.3 million sq ft, out of which, not out of which, but our sales were about 2.3 million sq ft, including some good sustenance base area.
All right, understood. Sir, you have given estimates for FY 2025, but how can we look at FY 2024? Just a rough outlook on the operation side.
Yeah. No, so, as you can from the theme itself, you can make out the trajectory is looking very strong and good. Amit talked about new launches which are coming up, including our foray into the redevelopment market. We continue to be extremely confident, so far as the overall residential prospects are concerned, including FY 2024 and beyond.
All right. So at operating level, can we expect some bit of profit in FY 2024?
For FY 2024, I'll not be able to give you a guidance. One key indicators I want to call out is the whole cash flow. It has really come out very well in the last two years, and I'll request, that's one lead indicator. Which means the things, the way it's developing and panning out is very positive over the medium term, but no, no reaction to FY 2024 specifically to your question.
All right. All right, yeah. Thanks. All the best. Bye. Yeah.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Adhidev Chattopadhyay from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning, everyone. Am I audible?
You are, sir. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Firstly, congratulations, Arvind, on what you have achieved. It has been very gratifying to see the company grow leaps and bounds during your tenure. I wish you all the best in whatever on your personal pro- and professional front in the future. Now my question is mainly on the business development pipeline. Obviously, as we, as you were just going out, but what is the overall pipeline looking like for the year? And in the launch... And just another follow-up question, the nine launches, any indicative sale value or GDV of how much these nine launches would carry? These are my two questions. Yeah. Thank you.
Aditya, this is Amit. Let me try to answer that, if it's okay. And Arvind can jump in if needed. I think we had a pipeline of around INR 5,500 crore GDV. We have converted almost in the last month; you've seen the new win, a large announcement, so that's INR 850 crore. But in the meanwhile, we have replenished the pipeline. So we still have 5,500 +, minus a little bit of the pipeline on the BD side, business development side. And our effort is to continue to convert, but the right size and right kind of project, but also continue to have a stage gate process to bring more relevant projects in our pipeline.
The short answer is INR 5,500 crore, which was there, continues to be healthy. Some has—one has, one major has converted, but we have replenished the pipeline once again with similar size projects.
Okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay, that's helpful. And just on the, any indicated GDV value on the launch pipeline for this year, overall, the nine launches?
Let me... 20-50, right, is the, is the,
Rough number, it should be closer to about 3,500-4,500. Rough numbers, Aditya.
The sales would be... Okay.
Yeah, yeah. I just - I'm not asking sales guidance, just the overall, what is the, is the total? So around INR 3,500 crore-INR 4,000 crore, right? This is the correct number, right? Indicative. Okay. Fine, fine, yeah. Okay, that's it from my side. Yeah. Thank you. And again, Arvind, wish you all the best and also the team in the future. Thank you.
Thank you, Adhidev. Appreciate your support.
Thank you. Sir, we take next question from the line of Rajesh, from SBI Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Hi, can you hear me?
Yes, please go ahead.
Yeah. So I have two questions. First is on profit margin. Earlier you responded to a question saying that seven, the gross margins that are reported, that actually includes overheads. So could you elaborate more on what those overheads are, and what would be the gross margin excluding those overheads?
Yeah. So I'll give you the overall response here. For example, any new business case which we evaluate, there's a particular amount or say, INR per sq ft number, which we assume. The idea there is to ensure that once we reach a decent size and scale, we're able to absorb all our overheads into that. When I say overheads, I'm largely referring to the corporate costs. And within that, my sense is that the corporate overhead at an overall level will be closer to say, 3% or so, versus the number which I mentioned. Very high-level response. Do you need any details, let me know?
Okay, yeah. But, can you tell us at least at the project level, what the gross margins are for the existing project? Is it possible to give us a number?
At project level, in terms of overall, if you look at our segment level slide, quarter four, the gross margin which we reported was about 13%, and that certainly is the lower end of our trajectory. You can expect that to improve as we progress over FY 2024 and FY 2025.
Okay, thanks. Second question is on debt. It's actually in two parts. So first question is on the IC&IC business, despite good numbers in terms of collections and leasing, why do you think debt has increased despite these numbers?
Debt has increased. Okay, so, so couple of points here. Idea of debt increase is to leverage the internal approvals towards land acquisition, because that helps us optimize the cost of borrowing. And if you look at India's reported numbers, while our debt is about INR 240 crore, our cash is about INR 273 crore roughly. And, hopefully, that is a good indication of the things to come. At an overall level, our debt continues to hover around INR 800 crore, including IC. It has improved a little because it has gone down because of certain large transactions which have happened. Having said that, our balance sheet is allowing us to take significant amount of debt without sort of stretching the balance sheet.
To that extent, we are like, we are right now, net debt positive from India's point of view. So a huge headroom we have available to borrow by. Debt positive.
Okay, one clarification, the land acquisitions for the IC business or the residential business?
Residential business.
What are you left?
Residential.
Okay. Yeah. And the second part to that question is that since many of our SPVs don't really get consolidated, what's the third-party external debt outstanding in all the SPVs?
Yeah. So see, third party, we don't have debt, as in a firm commitment. Whatever platforms we have signed up for, investments we have got, and I'm saying, say, from any of our partners, including IFC, World Bank, Sumitomo Corporation, HDFC or Actis. All of these investments are sort of risk reward basis, and there is no firm debt commitment, which we have on any of these.
But there would at least be a principal amount outstanding, right?
It will be difficult to give you a number because it's an accounting thing. The numbers are very varied. For example, Actis Mahindra Homes, if you look, were to look at the balance sheet, there is actually zero debt because it's all equity.
Okay. I'm not sure if I've got my answer, but it's okay. I'll reach out to Saptarshi, no problem. Thank you.
Sure.
All the best to the entire team.
Thank you.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Shreyans Mehta from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. So just one clarification. When you talk about nine launches, that does not include Thane, right?
No.
No, not as of now.
Got it. Got it. So can you just, you know, highlight where, at which stage are we in Thane? And probably when can we know we see that coming into picture?
So, I'll give a quick answer, and my colleagues can jump in. We are waiting on some policies that will help improve the value of the asset that we have. And it's prudent for us to wait and ensure that those policies are communicated so that we can plan our launch, which will help us maximize the value of the asset. So we're waiting for that policy to come through. It's been told to us it'll come anytime now, but being thoughtful about not jumping the gun. My sense is that this will go into the next financial year. But if there are any policy developments, we'll keep you updated.
Sure, sure. Secondly, in terms of our key launches like Kandivali and Citadel, can we expect, you know, them to be launched by first half of this year?
First half.
First half. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So, short answer is yes.
Got it. Got it. Got it. Sure. Sir, and a couple of more questions. One, in terms of BD pipeline, you know, it's, it continues to be sticky at INR 5,500 crore. So when do you foresee, you know, this scaling up to, say, around INR 7,000-INR 8,000 crore? Because, you know, the conversions are not happening as fast as possible. So in terms of that scaling up, is there a possibility?
You know, I think we don't see. My sense, Shreyans, is that it's very easy for us to increase the BD pipeline. Very easy. But I think we are very prudent about what qualifies for the right project for us in the focus market, micro market focus that we have. So it's not a question of bulking up the number, it's a question of having the right number for us to work on. We have limited bandwidth to focus on, and we really want to do a good job of converting those. So we, as a result, we focus on the right projects that will come in the right locations, and then we start to. We like to convert them. So that's the formula of the strategy we have followed, and it has given us good results.
Our teams are very focused on converting them. Our teams are very focused on getting the approvals. Our teams are very focused on launching the right project in the right timeframe. And I think that's a repeatable formula we want to have. Have the right BD pipeline and convert them as soon as we can, rather than chase a large number.
Sure, sure, sure. And in terms of completion, what, what, you know, ideally will be our target for F 2024?
Completions? Yeah. So there are a few projects which are in sort of advanced stages. You will have, for example, Happinest Kalyan; few phases will come up. Similarly, Nagpur Bloomdale project will be exiting... and apart from it, a couple of other projects which are coming up. But not a significant amount or the quantum we are expecting for completion, which will come up in FY 2024, at least next one.
Sure. So in terms of numbers?
I'll share that with you offline. It's there in the presentation, wherever the percentage completions are, 90% or 80%, that's what will come up for completion.
Got it. Got it, got it. Sure. And my last question is to Mr. Sinha, you know, what comfort can you give to the street, you know, that the current management will continue for at least two years? You know, because this has been a problem since last year, I would say two to three years, you know, that every two years the management changes. So what comfort can you give to the street, you know, that this won't continue or, you know, this is not going to be the case going forward?
So, you know, I can only say that I'll really work hard and make sure that, you know, you guys are happy, and, you know, the team is happy, and the customers are happy, so that a happy ecosystem allows us to create value for all the stakeholders involved. So I have no... I just joined Mahindra two years back. I have no desire to shift right now at this point of time, and my current appointment is for five years, so I hope to continue to do good work, following Arvind's footsteps, and make sure that for this kind of a business, which is a long lead time business, we continue to provide transition and continuity. But I also mentioned that you can't control all the variables.
There will be some departures, which are, you know, personal, professional, but the institutional capability, institutional support, M&M brand, M&M group support should ensure that there is no loss in transition. So I will say that, to simply answer your question.
Got it. Got it. Thank you, and all the best, sir.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of V.P. Rajesh from Banyan Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity. And, Arvind, first of all, lovely poem and congratulations on the value that you have created for shareholders over the last two years. And I think as Mr. Sinha said, you know, more importantly, the team you have put together does inspire confidence that this business can go up to INR 5,000 crore or maybe INR 10,000 crore of revenues in the coming years. So my first question was regarding the GDV of the nine launches that you are doing this year. I wasn't sure if I got the numbers correctly. Is it INR 3.5 thousand crore or four thousand crores? If you can just clarify that.
Yeah. It will be closer to INR 4,000 crore.
Yeah.
INR 4,000 crore. Typically, we are selling 30%-40% at the launch, right? So is that a right assumption to make, or should we refine that further?
Yeah. Yeah. So far, we have assumed around 35% for seven launches and 30% for two launches, because some of the launches are in the quarter four. And as I said, because we are working very tight deadlines, so there might be a little bit of slippage, but we are trying to risk manage that. But, 35% is for seven launches, 30% for two launches.
I understand. And my other question is regarding the long-term projection that we had discussed on the previous call, Dr. Shah, and you had mentioned this now that you guys will come back on that to the investors. So any timeline on that?
Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, my sense is, I'm in the process of absorbing and getting up to speed on all the business. It's been quite deep engagement so far.
I met almost 100% of employees, all the sites except one. My sense is in the next three months or so, I'll have clarity on, how we think about any change in direction, if we need to, any change in strategies that we need to. But currently, our strategy is very clear, our focus is very clear. We'll continue to progress along those dimensions.
Got it. And lastly, as you have looked at the business more in detail, any gaps in the management roles that you would like to fill or augment?
No, nothing as of now. I think we have a pretty solid team here. I think they are coming along well. It's not the intellectual capacity, but also the emotional connect that the team has is very strong. They work really well together, and I'm pretty excited to be working with them. No, no change anticipated of any kind, in the short term.
Got it. Okay, thank you so much, and look forward to interacting with you more in the coming calls.
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Look forward to it.
Thank you, Rajesh, for your support.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Rohit Poti from Marshmallow Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. First, thank you, Arvind, for doing such a wonderful job. I've been an investor for three years, and your appointment was the primary reason I got invested in the company as well. And I look forward to continue being a shareholder for the longer term. So Mr. Sinha, it's very reassuring to see your position in the company in the Mahindra Group and to see you take over Mahindra Lifespace. But just one question, because I mean, as can be seen from the resume, that you are currently on the group executive board, and you drive the strategy role at the broader Mahindra Group. In that context, Mahindra Lifespace is a very small entity in the broader group context.
So, I'm just curious to know, how do you divide bandwidth if, when you become the MD & CEO here? As discussed in the call before, it is, I mean, this is a reasonably, each project is four to five years it takes to complete, et cetera. So how do you divide bandwidth to this entity, and how do you ensure that, the entity gets the time and direction, to take, for the longer term? So that's just a concerned question I had.
Yeah, yeah. So thank you, Rohit. I think let me just answer in two parts. Part one is, how important MLDL is for Mahindra as a group, and then I'll answer the personal, bandwidth question that you posed, right? And I think you may have seen, Anish's, some of the, analyst calls or some of the announcements about how we have four core businesses and, seven to nine growth gems. And the growth gems, MLDL, is one of the key growth gems. And the mandate, for me as, my current or previous role as Head of Strategy, Capital Allocation, was or continues to be, is how do you scale this asset faster than, faster than what we have done in the past? But do it in the right way. Don't lose sight of customer centricity.
Don't lose sight of financial prudence. I think, that's been and, you know, there have been, you know, with Arvind, I've been, you know, working closely on multiple areas to, you know, but from a corporate point of view. So just, just want to. First part of the answer is, for Mahindra Group, this is a growth gem, and we will do anything and everything to scale this business in the right way. So that's the first part of the answer. Second part is, my bandwidth, I'm in the process of transition, but, fortunately, I've been able to do away with most of my responsibilities, as, as on seven boards. I've gotten out of most of the boards, as a corporate nominee.
In fact, I'm able to spend 90% of my time on Mahindra Lifespace, and after May 23rd, it will be 100% of my time. Whatever 10% of my time goes into my current role, strategy, will be backfilled by another individual who will be joining. So I will not be doing—I'll not be double hatting, after a few weeks. I'll be 100% focused on MLDL.
Okay, so this is very helpful. Thank you. But, so, just a follow-up here, Mr. Sinha, that, I mean, at least to, to, from my vantage point, it seems like, being on the group executive board with both strategy, a group strategy role or heading the strategy role for the Mahindra Group, it's a much larger role than the CEO of Mahindra Lifespace. Given, I mean, it's very heartening to hear the focus on growth, in Mahindra Lifespace and scale in Mahindra Lifespace. But it, it does, bring in the thought at, at least from a long-term shareholder, and it just brings it, brings the thought in our minds that that is a role you might go back to, let's say, two, three years down the line.
And again, we have this change in the top in an industry which requires relatively long-term leadership. I mean, all the competition are run by the founder, promoters, or the family themselves, and hence there's a lot of continuity in those competition at least. So is this something, is this the right way to think at all?
So, you know, it's a good thought, but let me say that right now, that's not the state of mind I am in. Right now, the mandate is very clear, the focus is clear, that let's create more value built on what we have accomplished in the last few years. So next three years, five years, my current appointment is for five years. So, I think my focus would be how can I live up to Arvind's, you know, legacy, and scale this to a different level altogether, built on what we have accomplished? Going back to another business, et cetera, is not part of my thinking right now. And, as you said, the previous role was very broad.
This role is very deep. It's, it's about, I was in consulting for 18 years and then strategy. So I've done enough of strategy work. The idea was how do I, contribute to value creation for one of the growth gems in the, in the Mahindra portfolio, and this is something I'm really excited about.
Yeah, that is reassuring to hear, Mr. Sinha. I mean, I remember one interview in which Mr. Anand Mahindra himself said that the three businesses he's excited about for the next 10 years for Mahindra Group was logistics, real estate, and the holiday business. So really look forward to your journey with this company, and I mean, you have my vote of confidence, at least, and will be looking forward to the journey for the next three to five years. Thank you so much.
Absolutely. Look forward to interacting more. Thank you.
Thank you. We take next question from the line of Manan Patel from Airavat Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Am I audible?
Yes, you are.
Yeah. So thank you. And first of all, thanks to Mr. Arvind for bringing much needed energy to the organization, and I have been part of this journey, as long as you have been. So it has been very rewarding. So thanks for that, and hope Mr. Sinha will also continue that energy for the company. So first question is, regarding the IC business. So you mentioned in your poem that Jaipur has been doing well, but if I look at the quarterly numbers, two, one started very well, and then it has been downhill. So how do we look at Jaipur? And in that context, I was under the impression that-... will also have, like, part of Jaipur land will be carved out for Actis as well.
You have not mentioned Actis at all in this call. Is that deal on track, partner, and your comments on the Jaipur's part of it?
It's a very good question. I think, Manan, this is Amit. I'll take the liberty of answering this. I think it's, I'll answer in two parts. Part one is we see significant momentum in inbound businesses, given China Plus One, the overall buoyancy in the industrial sector. So we see a lot of activity, not only in Jaipur, but all the other world cities and industrial clusters that we have. But it's a lumpy business, well, as you know. So we started off, Q1 was pretty good, but the conversions do take time. And that's where I think you're seeing a little bit of Q4, which doesn't have a lumpy closure as of now.
Many discussions are underway, and we hope that next financial year, FY 2024, you'll see some more action on overall world cities, but also on the Jaipur front.
Okay, and any comments on the Actis team?
Actis? Actis, yeah, yeah. Go ahead. Sorry, Actis team. Any action?
Yeah, so that's in progress, and it will have maybe next two quarters or H2, we will have some more progress on that front, and keep everyone updated.
But it's not Jaipur specific. I think it's broader. The Actis, we have partnered with them. We are looking for the right, the land parcel that could be part of BTS as our contribution. The discussions and negotiations are underway. There are certain prerequisites and approvals that we need, that will allow us to make this platform. Our contribution from World City point of view are successful, so the work is underway.
Okay.
And just to add to that, first start there was to set up the team. So the leadership team there is now largely in place. All the key positions have been filled, the CEO, the head of acquisitions, the CSO, et cetera. So, and that team is now fully kind of got their hands into the business, and as Kumar and Amit pointed out, over the next two quarters, you'll start seeing operational announcements as well.
That's very helpful. So, second, again, one more question on the IC business. So, is that understanding right, that Mitsubishi Electric deal is part, is recognized in Q4?
Yes. Yes.
So, sir, I just wanted to understand, because if it was recognized in Q4, it would have been closed completely before 31st March, but the announcement was made through the exchanges on 17th April. So why was there a big delay in that?
Yeah, no. So, the announcement was actually done on 5th of April, post registration formalities which were to be completed in this particular transition.
Okay, but, is it part of the recognized revenue in Q4?
That's right. Absolutely right. It's part of the revenue recognition in quarter four. The money was received, documents were signed. It was only the registration and two more formalities which were left, and therefore, being a conservative in terms of all these things, we thought it appropriate to do the announcement once all those activities get completed.
That's very helpful. Second question on the residential side. As we have noticed over a period of time, our contribution or pipeline in value homes is coming down and premium housing is going up, and I'm assuming the society redevelopment projects are also under premium housing. Is that a conscious strategy of bringing down value home and focusing on premium?
Just so, we are constantly evaluating this. The focus is on scale, the focus markets and what customers would welcome. So we will come back with more details of which, whether we're going to double down or not on affordable housing. But it depends on location of land, you know, the customer, the catchment area, multiple things. So we are constantly evaluating those.
And the last question, if I can. So just wanted to understand when you say society redevelopment projects worth of INR 86 crore, so is that the entire revenue that we can recognize? And if you could help me understand the revenue recognition and the cost in that business, that would be helpful.
So, we expect it to be largely within the same range as any of the residential business, right from the top line to the accounting to the bottom line.
So sir, how the land cost, I understand, will be like, is that factored in the 86 crore?
Yeah. Look at it, like a typical joint development agreement, okay? In which case, say the land comes more as an equity or a contribution from the other party, you can then probably look at all other aspects in, with a similar lens.
That's very helpful. And thank you for all the answers, and wish you all... hope, the energy of the organization. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of the question and answer session, and I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Amit Kumar Sinha for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Great. So I'll keep it short. We are over a little bit time. So, thank you for all your questions and, and, and comments. I think it's very helpful, for me personally, to understand your views, your vantage point, your priorities, and, we at MLDL will, continue to address them in our business, but also keep the channel of communication open to make sure that we are able to course correct and refine our, strategies and priorities, continuously. So, so first of all, thank you to all of you. Second is, thank you to Arvind for, as I mentioned earlier, he's, he's leaving MLDL, but he's leaving a part of him behind, and we'll build on, what he has set up in motion, and we'll continue to, address them. So that's my second quick comment.
And third, I just want to summarize the three points that I have in mind as I think about our business. The first is about scale-up is a big priority for all of us. As you heard a lot from me, as well as the colleagues here, the launches, the BDs, the process that we put in place, the discipline, the pricing, the inventory, all those things are part of our scale-up strategy, and we'll continue to put all our muscle and hustle behind that. The second is the customer centricity. This is a market where we feel that our brand can give us a lot more than what we have, what we may have seen already.
So how do we think about bringing the right product, leveraging our brand, leveraging our growth trend, addressing sustainability and technology, parameters that create a wall we have seen with some of our products already? So how do we double down, triple down on, customer centricity? And the third one is on the financial prudence. I think, we are in the business for creating value for our shareholders, and I think all our efforts should culminate into the financial outcome that we get from these efforts. So those are three on the residential side. Some of them apply to industrial side also, but given the buoyancy that we see on the MNC's interest in industrial cluster, we feel that there'll be a lot of action we'll see on the industrial side as well.
And the team is geared up to convert that. And I've seen that firsthand with some of the closures we saw in March firsthand. I'm quite impressed with the funnel that we have, as well as the conversion and the effort that we have put in place. So those are the few messages from my side. Thanks to all of you for your feedback. Thanks to Arvind for setting things in motion. Three priorities for us on the residential side and one clear priority on the industrial side. So I'm. I'll continue to open the dialogue with yous, and look forward to your support and feedback.
Thank you very much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining with us, and you may now disconnect your lines.