Top Biz News

Country Garden blooms on record 2009 lending

By Chia-Peck Wong (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-31 11:02

HONG KONG: Country Garden Holdings Co, the property developer controlled by China's second-richest woman, said full-year profit rose as record lending in the country fueled home sales and price gains.

Net income climbed 51 percent to 2.08 billion yuan ($305 million), or 0.1273 yuan a share, from 1.38 billion yuan, or 0.085 yuan a year earlier, the company said in a Hong Kong exchange filing on Tuesday. That was less than the 2.44 billion yuan average of seven estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales gained 12 percent to 17.6 billion yuan.

Country Garden joins rivals including China Vanke Co in posting higher 2009 profit. China's property prices rose 11 percent in February, the most in almost two years, as new loans spurred by the government's $586 billion stimulus package fed demand.

Earnings were also boosted by a gain of 251 million yuan in the value of an equity swap, said the company, based in Foshan in the southern province of Guangdong.

Contracted sales rose 32 percent to 23.2 billion yuan last year, exceeding Country Garden's full-year target of 19 billion yuan, the company said.

Sales by gross floor area also advanced, by 40 percent, to 4.75 million square meters, it said.

The company's shares fell 2.4 percent to HK$2.83 at the midday break in Hong Kong, before the earnings report. The stock has dropped 2.1 percent this year after a 52 percent gain in 2009. The Hang Seng Property index that tracks the seven biggest developers traded in Hong Kong has gained 1.7 percent in 2010.

Country Garden's controlling shareholder is Yang Huiyan, 28, the daughter of founder and Chairman Yeung Kwok Keung. Identified by Forbes this month as China's second-richest woman with an estimated wealth of $3.4 billion, Yang owns a 59.3 percent stake in Country Garden. Yang and Yeung are the Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciations respectively of the same surname.

Country Garden plans to pay a final dividend of 0.045 yuan a share, from 0.03 yuan last year.