Horizon Industrial Parks eyes strong leasing, expansion; Q2 revenue grows 30%
Horizon Industrial Parks has reported robust demand to lease warehouse space, even as it turned a profit in the September quarter.
On Thursday, the Blackstone-backed company said it leased out 2.5 million sq. ft in the September quarter, taking the total in the first six months of FY27 to 4.4 million sq. ft, or 68% of its full-year target of 6.5 million sq. ft.
The warehousing and industrial infrastructure development firm, which got publicly listed in August, posted a net profit of ₹13.9 crore in the second quarter, against a net loss of ₹76.1 crore a year earlier. Revenue rose 30% to ₹215 crore, driven by record quarterly leasing.
Expansion plans
Horizon Industrial Parks has a network of around 61 million sq. ft across 46 assets in 10 cities, including 32 million sq. ft of operational assets and a land bank of 2,300 acres. It also owns an in-city platform comprising 17 sites across metros, totaling 7 million sq. ft. Its first multi-storey in-city asset is progressing toward delivery in the fourth quarter.
“Leasing demand continues to remain strong, driven by consumption across sectors. A larger share of the demand for us is now from industrial customers. As the sector becomes more consolidated and institutionalized, it also presents a big growth phase for us. We are looking at expansion through various strategies,” Urvish Rambhia, CEO, Horizon Industrial Parks, said in an interview.
After the IPO, the company has significantly deleveraged, with debt falling to ₹2,765 crore at the end of September quarter, from ₹6,884 crore at the end of the March quarter.
For expansion, Horizon has land in place to build around 29 million sq. ft, where it can build 6-7 million sq. ft every year. Rambhia said the company will look at organic growth as well as inorganic growth through acquisitions.
“We will do land acquisitions for greenfield projects and also explore opportunities to buy sub-scale platforms,” he added.
Institutional interest grows
Logistics is one of the biggest asset classes for Blackstone globally, and owning more than 1.2 billion sq. ft of logistics and warehousing space worldwide. But it is a relatively new line of business for the asset manager in India, one it entered only six years ago.
India's warehousing and logistics sector has seen substantial interest from institutional investors in recent years.
Mint reported in August that the logistics platform of private equity firm Alta Capital is acquiring warehouses in three metros from Singapore's Xander Investment Management for around ₹2000 crore.
Global asset manager Brookfield in October said it has acquired a 10.5 million sq. ft portfolio from ESR India, making its entry into the country's industrial and logistics real estate sector. As part of the transaction, Brookfield has committed ₹4,300 crore towards the acquisition and the future development of the portfolio, with ESR continuing to manage the properties for the near term.