Property arm of Nan Hai Corp forces staff to stand down for six months due to tough financial conditions: social media posts

The property arm of Hong Kong-listed Nan Hai Corporation, owned by Yu Pun-hoi who founded Hong Kong online news portal HK01, has asked its staff to stand down for six months citing tough financial conditions, according to information published in social media posts.

All employees of The Peninsula Shenzhen Property Development, a subsidiary of Nan Hai Development, and an associated company, The Peninsula Real Estate (Shenzhen) Corporation, have been suspended from work for six months from June 1, according to social media posts containing screen grabs of a letter issued by the human resources department of The Peninsula Shenzhen Property Development.

Calls to The Peninsula Shenzhen Property Development by the Post were not picked up. Nan Hai Corporation declined to comment immediately on the matter and no further response was received as of Tuesday evening.

According to the letter contained in screen grabs, which was addressed to all of the property unit’s staff, the company is facing tough operating conditions as a result of Covid-19 disruptions and a harsh environment for the whole property sector.

“We are in the midst of a serious financial crisis and cannot operate sustainably,” says The Peninsula Shenzhen Property Development in screen grabs of the human resources letter, dated May 30 and posted on social media. The letter states that a partial salary will be distributed to staff during the suspension period.

Nan Hai, which is mainly engaged in property development, culture and media services, issued a profit warning in March saying it had lost between HK$3 billion (US$382 million) to HK$3.4 billion last year because of a weak property market and the impact of a protracted Covid-19 pandemic.