Winsan profits show 99pc plunge in half

Mainland property developer Winsan (China) Investment Group yesterday revealed a 99 per cent slide in profits for the six months to June.

The company said interim attributable profit fell to $1.15 million from $91.98 million for the same period last year.

Winsan explained its fall in profits by saying that most of its pending completions were recognised as sales last year, while most of the properties that commenced work this year were not yet ready for pre-sale.

This, along with the financial crisis in the region and the softening mainland property market, had caused its profit slide, it said.

Turnover fell to $83.59 million from $341.7 million, while earnings per share fell to 0.116 cents from last year's 12.26 cents.

Winsan, as last year, will not be paying shareholders an interim dividend.

To compensate for its decline in profits, the company planned to accelerate the sales of its Jiasheng Plaza and Fuhaitianqi Garden projects in Fuzhou, in Fujian province.

Winsan said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with CESL-Asia - a subsidiary of the Portugal-based Somague Group - and Cappre to jointly invest in mainland infrastructure projects.

The joint venture will spawn two companies, with Winsan and CESL-Asia each having control of one.