CIFI Announces 2018 Annual Results

Core net profit increased by 35.6% to RMB5.536 billion 

2018 Annual Results Highlights:

• Contracted sales and contracted gross floor area (“GFA”) surged by 46.2% and 52.1% to RMB152.0 billion and 9,569,400 sq.m. respectively. The overwhelming growth was due to the Group’s abundant and well diversified saleable resources across different regions and cities and mainly driven by the strong performance of certain second- and third-tier cities which were less affected by government controls.
• Core net profit increased by 35.6% to RMB5,536 million.
• Gross profit margin (adjusted) and core net profit margin reached to 34.7% and 13.1% respectively.
• Proposed final dividend of HK23 cents per share in aggregate with the interim dividend paid of HK7 cents, total dividends for the full year of 2018 amounted to HK30 cents per share (FY2017: HK23 cents per share). Total dividends for the year increased by 40.0%.
• Weighted average cost of indebtedness stood at a low level of 5.8%.
• Net debt-to-equity ratio of 67.2%, abundant cash on hand of RMB44.6 billion.
• Strategically entered 15 new cities, acquired 93 new projects in 2018. Total planned GFA of land acquisition amounted to approx. 12.4 million sq.m.. Land cost attributable to the Group’s equity interests was approx. RMB41.0 billion while the average land acquisition cost was approx. RMB6,190 per sq.m..
• Both offshore and onshore credit ratings have been further upgraded. Fitch and Moody’s maintained the CIFI’s credit rating at “BB” (with “Stable” outlook) and “Ba3” (with “Positive” outlook) respectively, while Standard & Poor’s upgraded its credit rating outlook to “BB–” (with “Positive” outlook). On the other hand, each of the onshore credit rating agencies, namely China Chengxin Credit Ratings, United Ratings and China Lianhe Credit Rating, assigned “AAA” onshore credit ratings to the Company and CIFI China.

HONG KONG, CHINA – Media OutReach – CIFI Holdings (Group) Co. Ltd. (“CIFI” or the “Group”, HKEx stock code: 884), a leading real estate developer engaged in the property development and investment business in the first-, second- and robust third-tier cities in China, is pleased to announce its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2018.

Mr. Lin Zhong, Chairman and Executive Director of the Group said, “due to the stringent real estate controls and tight liquidity environment in 2018, land prices in second- and strong third-tier cities have shown dramatic corrections. We believe that these city segments will offer attractive investment opportunities in the medium and long term, especially in the more challenging industry environments.”

“CIFI has always been pursuing sustainable, rapid and quality growth. We have set an initial contracted sales target for the full year of 2019 at RMB190.0 billion, representing an increase of 25% from the contracted sales in 2018. Supply of saleable resources are estimated to amount to over RMB350 billion for the full year of 2019. Based on our abundant saleable resources and conservative sell-through assumption, we are confident of achieving our 2019 yearly sales target. We are confident that our massive and well diversified portfolio of saleable resources acquired at reasonable land costs will be defensive in the current tight real estate environment and will provide substantial upside potential when real estate policies become favourable again in future.” Mr. Lin concluded.