Square Yards full-year revenue up 36pc at Rs 298cr

Property brokerage firm Square Yards, which is backed by Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group and Times Group, clocked 36 percent growth in its revenue to Rs 298 crore during the last fiscal year despite demand slowdown, a top company official said.

Square Yards, which had posted a revenue of Rs 220 crore in the 2018-19 financial year, competes with Anuj Puri-led Anarock, News Corp-backed PropTiger, 360 Realtors, Quikr Realty and Investors Clinic in the organised property brokerage business.

Square Yards' gross profit rose 50 percent to Rs 93 crore, its founder and CEO Tanuj Shori told PTI.

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The average brokerage stood at around 4.8 percent last fiscal, he added. Square Yards' gross transaction value (GTV) rose to Rs 6,086.8 crore last fiscal, from Rs 4,964.7 crore in the previous year. Indian real estate operations contributed 68 percent to the overall revenue, 21 percent came from international business, and 11 percent from mortgage business.

"The year saw well rounded growth with revenue across segments growing between 25-45 percent. NRI and Global real estate led the growth with 40-45 percent growth, and mortgage rebounded with 35% revenue growth," Shori said.

He said the company's revenue grew in the fourth quarter despite nationwide lockdown imposed from March 25 to control coronavirus.

Q4 for the market remained weak with launches and sales continuing to touch new lows because of the lockdown. Credit crisis and lead indicators worsened, with reports indicating that industry volumes declined around 50-60 percent for the quarter.

Square Yards continued to outperform the market by a significant margin of 60 percent, led by winning market share from the unorganized players.

In November 2016, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group's private equity arm had invested $12 million in Square Yards. In September 2019, the startup raised $25 million (around Rs 175 crore) through preferential issue of equity shares to investors including Times Group.

The company has so far raised $50 million in equity and over $25 million in debt financing since its inception in 2014. Earlier this year, Square Yards acquired Mumbai-based rental platform Azuro as part of its expansion plan.