China's Top Property Developer Country Garden Expected to Record Losses

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Credit: Visual China

BEIJING, July 31 (TiPost) —— China’s leading real estate company Country Garden Holdings may record a net loss in the first half of 2023, according to released by the company on Monday morning.

According to Country Garden Holdings, the above forecast is a result of downward sales in the real estate industry, lowered gross profit margin, increased impairment of property projects, and expected net foreign exchange losses due to foreign exchange fluctuations.

Country Garden Holdings is currently one of the few private real estate companies in China that has yet to default on its debt.

The annual sales rankings of real estate enterprises released by market organization CRIC China show that the company has topped the list since 2017 until now. The net loss of the industry"s top-selling company means that the real estate crisis, which started in the second half of 2021, is still spreading. 

Country Garden Holdings realized sales of 570.7 billion yuan and a net profit of 54.1 billion yuan in 2020. After the outbreak of the industry-wide crisis in 2021, the company"s sales dropped slightly, realizing sales of 558 billion yuan and a net profit of 41 billion yuan. When the industry crisis deepended in 2022, the company’s sales revenues were only 357.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 36%. The company also suffered its first loss in 16 years since it was listed, with a total loss of 2.962 billion yuan, of which net loss attributable to shareholders was 6.052 billion yuan.

The company did not announce the projected loss for the first half of 2023, but the situation may not be optimistic. The company"s announcement on July 4 showed that it only realized sales of 128.8 billion yuan in the first half of 2023, a further drop of more than 30% year-on-year from a low base in 2022.

Country Garden Holdings sent out a signal of financial soundness in March 2023, when the 2022 financial report was released. The financial report showed that the company"s total loan balance fell to 271.31 billion yuan as of the end of 2022, down 14.7% year-on-year. The gearing ratio excluding pre-receipts stood at 69.4%, lower than the red line of 70%. The net gearing ratio fell by 5.4 percentage points year-on-year to 40%, a new 10-year low, while the cash flow-to-short-term-debt ratio stood at 1.6 times.

In the announcement released to the public on Monday, the company is determined to ensure the safety of cash flow while “guaranteeing delivery and people"s livelihood.” It will actively take various measures to achieve these goals, including reducing various operating expenses, accelerating the arrangement of paybacks, actively expanding financing channels, managing and optimizing the debt repayment arrangements, etc., and meanwhile, actively seeking guidance and support from the government and various regulatory bodies.

However, the action that actively seeking guidance and support from the government and various regulatory agencies is interpreted by the market as a signal for the company to seek public assistance, triggering a drop in stocks and bonds.