Country Garden achieves sales of $52.3 billion in first 5 months of 2018, up 37% YoY

The Chinese real estate giant boasts a record $11 billion in sales for the month of May alone 

FOSHAN, China, June 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CRIC, a leading information and service provider for the real estate market in China, released the list of the top 100 Chinese property developers in terms of sales for the first five months of 2018 on the evening of May 31. For the first five months of this year, Country Garden achieved 334.52 billion yuan (approx. US$52.3 billion) in sales, up 37 percent year on year and ranking number one among Chinese property developers. In May alone, the company reported a record 70 billion yuan (approx. US$11 billion) in sales. The real estate developer has been steadily topping the rankings since 2017.

Industry analysts said Country Garden's ongoing investment in China's third- and fourth-tier cities is the single major driver for its monthly sales figure besting 70 billion yuan in May. Country Garden is also in the process of balancing its portfolio in Chinese cities across all tiers.

As of the end of 2017, Country Garden Group (Stock Code: 2007.HK) had completed or was in the process of completing 1,456 projects spanning 220 prefecture-level cities as well as 768 districts and counties across 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Of those, 59 percent of the projects the company won in 2017 are in first- and second-tier cities, while the target third- and fourth cities make up to the remaining 41 percent.

Financial results for 2017 show Country Garden's contracted sales totaled 550 billion yuan (approx. US$86 billion). During the year, the company achieved 500.3 billion yuan (approx. US$78.2 billion) in completed contracted sales, representing a high conversion rate of contracted sales moving to completion of 90 percent. The developer had cash and bank deposits of approximately 148.4 billion yuan (approx. US$23.2 billion) on hand as of the end of 2017, the highest level since the company first listed and well above the combined outstanding short- and long-term loans of 68.28 billion yuan (approx. US$10.7 billion). The firm also had an undrawn credit line of 248.51 billion yuan (approx. US$38.8 billion), maintaining its short-term liquidity.  

Additionally, Country Garden recently launched the spin-off and listing of its property business.

On May 29, Country Garden announced that the board of directors had agreed on the split and separate listing of the company's subsidiary Country Garden Services Holdings on the main board of HKEx by way of introduction. Country Garden Services is scheduled to start trading publicly on June 19. Country Garden plans to distribute 2.5 billion shares of Country Garden Services to shareholders in the form of a conditional special dividend and dividends in kind. One Country Garden Services share will be distributed for every 870 million Country Garden shares held.

SOURCE Country Garden Holdings