Evergrande sets sights on US$127.4b annual sales by 2020
Country’s third-largest developer plans to ratchet up sales push, after prioritising profit and cutting debt in 2017
China Evergrande, the Guangzhou-based developer, is aiming to ratchet up its annual sales to 800 billion yuan (US$127.4 billion) by 2020, from 550 billion yuan in projected sales for this year.
The country’s third-largest developer by sales value shifted its goalposts early last year more towards profitability and cutting debt.
“We are striving for annual sales of 800 billion yuan and total assets of 3 trillion yuan by 2020,” its chairman Hui Ka-Yan told a media briefing on Monday.
He said contracted sales in 2017 still grew 34.2 per cent to 501 billion yuan, but that was still much slower than its main rival Country Garden, which recorded 78 per cent expansion.
“That 800 billion yuan [in sales] could be possible this year, but it is unnecessary because we have said we prefer to be profitable,” added chief executive Xia Haijun.
The company’s gross margins in 2017 jumped 8 percentage points to 36.1 per cent, while net margins increased 3.2 percentage points to 13 per cent, according to its latest figures.
800 billion yuan [in sales] could be possible this year, but it is unnecessary because we have said we prefer to be profitable