Evergrande hits sales target

SHANGHAI: Evergrande Real Estate Group has exceeded its annual sales target of 40 billion yuan (RM18.56 billion) set at the beginning of the year.

Chairman Hui Ka-yan said the company's contract sales for the first 10 months amounted to 41.16 billion yuan and said the expected full-year sales figure was 50 billion yuan.

Contract sales are usually a good indication of actual sales in coming months. The company expects 20% to 30% growth in contract sales next year in view of fast expansion in third-tier mainland cities.

Hui said the company would sell up to 150 projects next year to meet the strong demand in third-tier cities. This compares with 52 projects offered for sale this year.

Other mainland developers have also announced encouraging sales figures in the first 10 months even though some of them saw their revenues dented last month due to austerity measures.

Longfor Properties said it achieved its annual contract sales target of 24.8 billion yuan in early November. KWG Property posted a 25% decline in sales of uncompleted units to 750 million yuan. But it notched up sales of 10.05 billion yuan in the first 10 months, already crossing its target of 10 billion yuan for the year.

Evergrande's Hui said he did not regret forking out HK$1.2 billion (RM479.98 million) to pre-listing investors after guaranteeing them a minimum return. The investors injected US$906 million into the company before flotation. Hui pledged to pay them if Evergrande's average share price went below the offer price within a year of listing. — South China Morning Post