Eastern Housing's land, apartment sales surge in March quarter

Eastern Housing, the lone publicly traded real-estate company in the country, witnessed an 8% growth in land sales and 11% in apartment sales in the January-March quarter of FY23 amid inflationary pressure.

High inflation appeared as a blessing in disguise for the company as it realised higher gains from increased property prices, according to the realtor's latest price sensitive information.

During the quarter, the company sold land worth Tk60.42 crore and apartments worth Tk6.76 crore. The total revenue of this company amounted to Tk67 crore in the period, which was 8% higher than that in the same period in the previous year.

Its net profit also jumped year-on-year by 30% to Tk15.68 crore and the earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk1.68 during the third quarter of FY23. The company, in its financial statement, said increase of income and soaring prices of lands and apartments were the reasons behind the surge in profits.

In the July-March quarter of FY23, the company earned Tk168 crore in revenue, which was 34% lower over the same period of the previous year. Eastern Housing posted higher revenue in FY22 as it earned over Tk100 crore as its project in the capital's Gulshan area was sold to a single buyer.

At the end of March this year, its EPS was Tk4.81, which was Tk3.93 a year ago.

Eastern Housing, founded by legendary entrepreneur Jahurul Islam, began its journey in 1964 with a residential area development project at Pallabi in Dhaka. The company is now engaged in both land development and apartment businesses.

Following the successful turnover of the first phase of Jahurul Islam City in the capital's Aftabnagar area, the company is extending to the second and third phases.

Meanwhile, Eastern Housing's share price unusually jumped by 169% to Tk140 from July to October last year at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). In that time, the DSE sent several query notices to the company regarding its unusual price hike. But the company replied that there was no undisclosed price sensitive information behind the price hike.

On Monday, its shares closed at Tk115.10 each, which was 1.20% lower than the previous session at the DSE.