Shimao Property Holdings, controlled by the mainland's second-richest man, Hui Wing-mau, said core profit tripled in the first half of the year, driven by strong home sales in the surging domestic property market.
Underlying profit rose to 1.32 billion yuan in the first six months from 431 million yuan in the previous year. Including a property revaluation gain of 764 million yuan, net profit more than doubled to 2.08 billion yuan from 703 million yuan.
Revenue from home sales rose 11 per cent to 2.4 billion yuan after it booked 220,219 square metres of residential saleable space, up 89 per cent.
It also booked 752 million yuan profit from the sale of 29.99 per cent of Wuhan Shimao Splendid River residential project to Morgan Stanley Real Estate.
'The strong revenue growth from property sales will [continue] next year as the large-scale residential project in Shenyang is scheduled for completion,' said Kenny Tang Sing-hing, an associate director at Tung Tai Securities.
Shimao achieved 60 per cent of its sales target this year after reaping 900 million yuan from property sales this month, executive director Jason Hui Sai-tan said.
'Our sales target is 8.9 billion yuan this year,' he said. 'We have seven pre-sale projects that will be completed in the second half.'