Guangdong-based developer Agile Property Holdings said it generated 31.5 billion yuan (HK$38.68 billion) of contract sales last year, about 15 per cent below its target due to difficult market conditions.
The developer yesterday reported its underlying profit last year rose 28.4 per cent because of low land prices and higher sales as a result of the price discounts it offered to beat a sluggish market.
Stripping out revaluation gains on investment properties, the company's core earnings amounted to 5.16 billion yuan for the year, from 4.02 billion yuan a year ago. Turnover increased 11.8 per cent to 22.94 billion yuan.
The company declared a final dividend of 23.4 HK cents, up 1.7 per cent from a year earlier.
Alex Liu, vice-president of Agile Property, said prices for some property projects were cut by 10 to 20 per cent last year to offset the curbs imposed by the government to cool the red-hot market. 'We still have room for downward price adjustment if the overall property market turns sour because of low land costs,' he said.
Agile's net profit margin last year edged up 2.9 percentage points to 22.5 per cent even as the average selling price dropped 11.06 per cent to 10,144 yuan per square metre. Liu said the average land cost of its 31.44 million sq metre land bank amounted to 1,277 yuan per square metre last year, accounting for just 12.6 per cent of selling price.