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Shares of Agile Property rose earlier this week on hopes that the Chinese government might ease measures imposed to cool overheated property prices. Photo: SCMP

China property crackdown holds back Agile's 1H profit

Chinese developer Agile Property’s interim net profit rose a worse-than-expected three per cent, reflecting challenging conditions in China’s housing market because of Beijing’s austerity measures to rein home prices.

The Guangdong-based firm reported net profit of 2.13 billion yuan for the first six months of this year, which was down on a Bloomberg consensus forecast of 2.3 billion yuan. Agile reported a 2.07 billion yuan profit in the year-earlier period.

Sales rose 28 per cent to 15.2 billion yuan in the six months to June 30, the company said in a statement.

It recorded contracted sales of 16.1 billion yuan during the reported period, up 14.8 per cent from the same period last year.

Agile has been diversifying into commercial properties, including hotels, shopping malls and office buildings for steady revenue, to limit operational risk, the company said in a statement.

Mainland property stocks have been in the spotlight this week, amid speculation that Beijing may ease its grip on the housing market. Shares of Agile have risen more than 5 per cent by the lunchtime break on Thursday this week on news that the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou would allow first-home buyers to buy two houses instead of one.

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