New industry city operator China Fortune Land Development, or CFLD, experienced stable growth last year, with revenues topping 100 billion yuan and a year-on-year increase of 24.4 percent in net profit.

The Shanghai-listed company said its operating revenue came in at 105.21 billion yuan ($14.86 billion) last year, up 25.6 percent from the year-ago period, according to the 2019 annual report released by the company.

The net profit attributable to shareholders stood at 14.61 billion yuan, up 24.4 percent year-on-year. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of net profit for the past five years reached 32.1 percent.

CFLD is committed to its core metropolitan areas strategy with a pattern of "3 + 3 + N", which includes the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei province cluster, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as well as Zhengzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu.

In the future, structural opportunities of China's economic growth, as well as the real estate sector, lie in metropolitan areas, Chairman Wang Wenxue said at a news conference, which was livestreamed in Beijing and Shenzhen on April 26.

The year 2019 marked the first year of the era of metropolitan areas, Wang said, adding various factors, such as population, technology, data, capital, land, education and healthcare, all focus on these regions.

Last year, the sales volume outside the greater Beijing area accounted for 57.8 percent of the total, up 46.5 percent from a year earlier, while the proportion of sales area also rose from 54.2 percent to 63.7 percent.

In terms of industrial development, CFLD signed 195.61 billion yuan in new investment contracts last year, setting a new record, with an increase of 17.8 percent year-on-year.

A total of 545 new companies opened in CFLD's New Industry Cities over the past year, and the average value of contracts signed with these companies rose by 51.8 percent from a year earlier.

In 2019, the number of CFLD's New Industry Cities attracting development partners increased from 14 to 31, and the area of land acquired by these partners rose 58 percent.

In addition, CFLD rapidly advanced into the fields of retail property, office buildings and other commercial real estate, and explored new real estate fields such as healthcare facilities, public housing, and communities for scientists.

For 2020, Wang said, the company plans to become China's leading investment, development and management platform for core metropolitan areas. Under this strategy, CFLD will actively develop New Industry Cities and commercial property, as well as building some new platforms.