Prestige Estates Projects, one of India's largest homebuilders, said on Thursday that consolidated net profit fell 44% in the September quarter as revenue dropped and interest costs rose, even though its residential pre-sales climbed 20% from a year earlier.

Net profit for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was 2.56 billion rupees (INR), down from 4.57 billion rupees a year earlier, according to the unaudited results the Bengaluru-based company filed with the National Stock Exchange of India. Profit attributable to shareholders of the parent fell 48% to 2.24 billion rupees, and earnings per share dropped to 5.20 rupees from 9.99 rupees.

For investors in Asia tracking India's property cycle, the results show the gap between what developers sell and what they report. Prestige's contracted bookings grew in the first half, but its income statement shrank, and the balance sheet is carrying more debt to fund land and construction ahead of a heavy launch calendar.

Revenue Falls While Bookings Climb

Revenue from operations fell 15% to 20.6 billion rupees from 24.32 billion rupees a year earlier, the filing showed, and was 23% below the 26.75 billion rupees reported in the June quarter. Business Standard noted that total expenses fell 12.5% from a year earlier, a smaller drop than revenue.

Finance costs rose 25% to 4.82 billion rupees from 3.85 billion rupees, while other income fell to 1.62 billion rupees from 2.66 billion rupees. Profit before tax dropped to 3.64 billion rupees from 5.84 billion rupees. For the six months to September, revenue was almost unchanged at 47.35 billion rupees, while net profit fell to 5.28 billion rupees from 7.69 billion rupees.

The sales side looked different. In an operational update filed in October, Prestige said residential pre-sales, the value of homes contracted with buyers, rose 20% from a year earlier to 72.25 billion rupees in the quarter. It sold 3,910 units covering 5.84 million square feet at an average price of 12,375 rupees per square foot, up from 11,618 rupees for the first half as a whole.

Pre-sales for the six months reached 138.04 billion rupees from 7,247 units. Bengaluru made up 41% of first-half sales and Hyderabad 32%, followed by Mumbai at 12% and Chennai at 8%, the company said. Collections from customers were 52.94 billion rupees in the quarter and 100.96 billion rupees for the half.

Launch Pipeline and Debt

Prestige launched three residential projects in the September quarter: Prestige Palm Court in Chennai and Garden Breeze and Prestige Parklane in Bengaluru, with combined gross development value of about 40.2 billion rupees. Its investor presentation put first-half launches at 163.71 billion rupees, led by the 95 billion rupee Prestige Golden Grove project in Hyderabad, and said new launches contributed 21.23 billion rupees of second-quarter sales.

The company has lined up about 400 billion rupees of launches for the second half of the fiscal year ending in March, according to the October update. Business Standard said that is about 2.5 times the first-half figure. The largest projects listed in the presentation for coming quarters include The Falcon City Reserve in Bengaluru, valued at 85 billion rupees, and Prestige Chambers 51, a commercial-for-sale project in Mumbai valued at 77 billion rupees.

That expansion is being funded partly with borrowing. Net debt stood at 121.22 billion rupees at the end of September, according to the presentation, with an average cost of debt of 9.09% and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company drew a net 12.33 billion rupees of new debt during the quarter and spent 16.79 billion rupees on land, development rights and related deposits. Moves in India's 10-year government bond yield feed into the cost of that borrowing.

Hotel Listing Shelved

Prestige also confirmed in its results notes that Prestige Hospitality Ventures, its hotel unit, withdrew in September the draft prospectus it had filed with India's securities regulator in April 2025. The planned initial public offering would have combined a sale of existing shares of up to 10 billion rupees with new shares of up to 17 billion rupees.

Instead, the company announced a 30 billion rupee investment by Canada's CPP Investments in the hospitality unit for a stake of about 27%, according to the October update. The hotel business reported first-half occupancy of 70% and average room rates of 15,143 rupees.

The second-half plan is about 2.5 times what Prestige launched from April to September, and its 9.09% average borrowing cost now runs on 121.22 billion rupees of net debt.