MUMBAI: Godrej Properties’ Executive Chairman Pirojsha Godrej has said the company will focus on increasing its market share in the financial year 2020-21 amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
In his message to Godrej Properties’ shareholders in the annual report for FY 2019-20, he said the company is prepared to withstand a possible downturn in the sector, however bad it gets, but would also like to focus on capturing opportunities emerging out of the crisis.
“The most important opportunity will be to gain market share. Our strong business development over the past few years has ensured that our launch pipeline is the best it has ever been,” the Chairman said.
He said Godrej Properties will be agile and ready to launch its projects and thereby gain share while most of its peers would be focussed on liquidating their current inventory. This, in turn, will drive cash flows and earnings growth over the medium term, he added. Godrej said the company will also be open to add projects with distressed valuations in a bid to strengthen its portfolio.
“We will be open to the opportunity to further strengthen our portfolio if projects become available at distressed valuations,” he said. The Chairman said the company would ensure that financial stability takes precedence, adding that there would be interesting opportunities to deliver both these goals in the current financial year.
The company’s medium-term goals — to consistently be among the leading developers by value of residential real estate sales in its core markets, and to consistently deliver a return-on-equity (ROE) in excess of 20 per cent — remain the key financial focus areas for the company.
“Despite the continued disruptions the real estate sector has faced, including the current pandemic, we believe we are on track to achieve these goals. While the end of the year saw significant disruption due to the lockdown at the end of Q4 FY20, I’m happy to share that on the whole, FY20 was another strong year for your company,” he said.