D.S.Kulkarni Developers - Dead Horse or Dark Horse?

Stock Opportunities Untested - but worth a good look
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Pune-based D.S. Kulkarni Developers Ltd (DSK Developers) is a dominant real estate company, promoted by Mr. D.S. Kulkarni. The group began construction activities in 1980 as a partnership firm and converted into a public limited company in 1991.

DSK Developers has completed over 50 projects till date covering over 10 million sq.ft. It has over 5 million sq.ft. area of projects in the pipeline apart from the 16 million sq.ft. township ‘DSK Dream City’ which is expected to be completed in the next 5–7 yrs.

The Company focuses on mid-income housing with a few marquee luxury developments. It has a presence in cities including Mumbai, Bangalore, Nashik and Coimbatore with a major focus on Pune.

DSK Developers has a customer-centric approach that has resulted in a strong brand name. It is one of the few real estate companies that provide a guaranteed possession date with late completion penalties.

On Going Projects -

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Highlights of DSK Dream City Project -

This Township Project is spread over 250 acres and is 23 kms away from the Pune city centre. It is expected to cost Rs.15000 crore and generate revenues over Rs.25000 crore over the next 5 years. The project will have world class amenities like a 5 star hotel, a Marine Club, an IT hub with Tech park, clubs & exotic gardens, water fall residences, sports infrastructure, Island Plaza, Convention centres, Helipad, etc.

Real Estate Industry in Pune: The Housing industry in Pune is not investment driven but is driven by actual home buyers. Pune is the one of the top eight real estate markets in India. In its latest report, Knight Frank research reported that in H1FY15, Pune was the only city that showed higher absorption than launches in the residential housing market.

It is one of the few cities which is expected to achieve higher sales than last year. Further, the shift of IT-SEZ from Bangalore to Pune will boost the demand for the housing sector. There has been better uptake of residential projects in Pune than other Tier 1 cities.

Pune’s community of double income families will continue to grow with the development of IT–SEZs around the city. Higher demand for better amenities is expected from the mid-income group. The city also attracts interest in second homes and retirement homes.

Financial Performance -

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D.S. Kulkarni Developers Ltd is a well-managed Real Estate company and has a good track record of corporate governance. It has a very good land bank in Pune where still has good demand side. The share is trading at 5 times to its FY17E earnings, 0.4 times to book value.

Negatives -

  1. Coming up of nearby township plans can pose a threat to the demand of its township projects
  2. DS Kulkarni has met with an accident around May 2016. Not sure of his health right now.
  3. Resignation of few directors from the company in the last few months.

It will be great to hear from other members if they happen to track this company.

Disclosure - I currently hold only a tracking position and am still studying the company. I might look to increase exposure around Rs.50 once i have more clarity on the exits of the directors. It’s 5 year low is Rs.45 and book value is around Rs.100. Since the real estate sector is currently going through pain, I believe the stock/industry might test investor patience for the next 3 years at least. Since the company is too small and the sector is troubled I do not plan to invest more than 1-2% of my portfolio in this company.

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DSK is one of the few reputed builders in Pune. I am from Pune and have personally seen the good quality work delivered by the builder.

AFAIK, no major issues post the accident. However, the big risk now is company FD’s not being honored. To my knowledge, this is probably the first time in company’s history.

My view is it may correct further. Would be a good buy as when the cash situation improves.

~Amit

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DSK is in trouble. The FD problem is well known but the problem may be deeper. Check out today’s story in the Pune Mirror -

http://punemirror.indiatimes.com/pune/cover-story/dsk-viral-video-indicates-what-lies-beneath/articleshow/57583494.cms

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DSK borrowed heavily to fund its dream city project but went wrong with its pricing and location. I have burnt my fingers investing in real estate companies with projects in locations that have no drivers. So i always look at all the locations the company has their land parcels in. My thumbrule is a working population of 2L in a 2 km vicinty. I also like traffic jams - if i find that there are a lot of traffic jams in the tertiary roads in a 2 km radius occuring at at peak periods it indicates that there are a lot of people going there. These things are easy to judge through voting lists and google traffic updates. While DSK is a good company it is sadly no longer a good business to invest in. Extreme caution advised.

As always - happy investing

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DSK is just an average builder, not considered in A+ category at all and if one is planning to invest in regional real estate company, one has to be very conscious of the company’s reputation. Kolte patil or vascon has way better reputation.

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Its a dead horse trust I have internal news on this…Rest your money your wish,

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DSK has held meeting with his depositors (not share holders) and he informed them that he is having difficulty with repayment. He said there’s problems with liquidity as all his funds are trapped in various ongoing projects. The biggest culprit is his dream city which failed to get expected response.
And now he don’t have funds to complete them.
However, he claimed that he has enough asset whose value is far more than the money he owe to others. So depositors might get delayed payments but they won’t get cheated.

They have also delayed their staff salary and laid off many executive.

Source - I am also from pune and my cousin is working in real estate sector

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My dad was part of the FD scheme. Initially the interest rate on the FD was 19% and we were getting quarterly payments regularly, until sometime back we were extremely shocked he started delaying interest payments when we wanted to redeem the payment. We were further surprised that without any intimation or taking the investor into consideration interest rates were reduced to 12% p.a. That too instead of the quarterly interest they gave a cheque for one month only. That too bounced!!! Had several rounds of meetings with DSK himself, who tried to swindle him with some sob story asking my dad to help him out and that he would pay him in a few months, but we took a tough stand and after a grueling few months, received our money back!

Just thought I’d share our experience.

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Ragad dia bechare ko… lolz

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Appreciate every ones views. It’s evident via financials that the company is going through some hardships. However keeping the land bank it holds in mind, I will wait for few more quarters before writing off the company completely only cause the promoters to me seems honest.

Will take a call once the company is out with its annual report.

Disclosure - Currently holding a tracking position only.

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Considering that the historical cash flows from operations has been -ve since the last five years, it will be sometime before the business situation improves. Market Demand is also muted so unless they infuse large capital or sell assets, turnaround is going to be slow and painful.

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Be very very careful in DSK. Ask people who have done unsecured lending to them. Land bank might be there, but in current market it is not liquid at all. Many believe he may not survive this downturn. In an open forum, can’t write more. BTW, I am from Pune.

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While I would be wary against investing in dsk because if its difficulties, its land in manjri which was its big bet is about 40 mins away from magarpatta city. It is next to the solapur highway. In 2006, an identical situation prevailed in another area of pune called Kharadi. Kharadi was next to the nagar highway and about ~30 mins away from the airport and developers were struggling to market their projects. However everything changed when the EON it park came up in the middle of kharadi credit which has to be given to panchshil which developed the infra almost single handedly.

what I want to say is one large infra project can change the fortunes of the location in a heartbeat. While Manjri may or may not be so lucky investors in dsk should not lose heart and track infra projects in manjri closely.

Disc not invested

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I agree as well and hence just holding a tracking position with 10 shares only :slight_smile: . However since it holds such a big parcel of land in Pune, will continue to track it for any signs of oxygen to it.

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Ace Investor has invested 1.32% as per SHP of June 2017. Has he sensed any oxygen flow in the system.
On hearing the news, ticker hit the UC.

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Well the ratings was recently downgraded to D. There have been a decrease in pledge shares, however directors continue to resign. So the signals are all mixed. Besides the tracking position, I still haven’t taken more exposure in the company.

I believe more positive announcement from the company is needed to judge it. It’s market Cap is too small so I wont read much into Porinju investment in it.

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Porinju’s Investment must have been around April when the stock was around 50-60 lvls looking at the volume. A string of negative events like invocation of CFO’s pledged shares, downrating of Secured NCD’s and FD have occurred. Did the Ace investor anticipate such events? Does still hold ? is a matter of question.

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Please see news item as well as interview from DS Kulkarni in Marathi channel ABP Maza.

http://punemirror.indiatimes.com/pune/civic/dsk-group-investors-up-for-a-united-fight/articleshow/59903875.cms

http://punemirror.indiatimes.com/pune/civic/dsk-service-centre-downs-shutters-car-owners-in-dilemma/articleshow/59813666.cms

Lot of negative news in Pune media and amongst public about DS Kulkarni. Only good thing in DSK is facing the investors and media as of now. Only time will tell if DSK group can come back.

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There is a petition filed by anonymous investor in his FD scheme and an RTI activist has covered in detail about the dealings of the company which are questionable as per the said article.

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A must read blog on DS Kulkarni Developers for all those considering serious investment in DSK:


Seems the company is in some serious soup.

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