Yanlord's Q1 net profit declines 14.7%

CHINESE property developer Yanlord Land Group posted on Monday a net profit decline in its first quarter of 14.7 per cent to 797.1 million yuan (S$167.7 million), thanks to the higher profit recognition from projects with a larger attributable portion of non-controlling interest.

Earnings per share slid to 41.27 RMB cents from 48.14 RMB cents in the previous year.

Revenue grew 13.7 per cent to 7.19 billion yuan from the previous year on the back of higher average selling prices per square metre (psm) achieved.

Higher priced projects like Yanlord on The Park and Yanlord Western Gardens in Shanghai accounted for approximately 74.3 per cent and 13.7 per cent respectively to the Group's gross revenue on sales of properties in the quarter.

Yanlord noted it has continued to witness healthy buyer interest with accumulated pre-sales pending recognition and advances for pre-sales of properties standing at March 31, 2018 was RMB18.197 billion and RMB16.602 billion respectively.

It will launch a project and new batches of existing projects in the second quarter including Oasis New Island Gardens (Phase 2) and Yanlord Taoyuan Gardens in Nanjing, Yanlord on the Park and Yanlord Western Gardensin Shanghai.

"Demand for prime residential developments in the PRC continues to be healthy driven by continued upgrader demand and population inflow into first and core second tier cities. While near term volatilities may arise due to the introduction of austerity measures, our quality developments continue to attract the attention of home buyers," said Zhong Sheng Jian, Yanlord's chairman and chief executive officer.

Separately, Yanlord also announced an interested person transaction of the

185,279,500 yuan sale of the 28,974.84 sq m Yanlord Yangtze Riverbay Town - Land Parcel 5 by Yanlord subsidiary Nanjing Yanlord Commercial Management, to Zhong Si Nuo, daughter of Mr Zhong, and sister of executive director Zhong Ming.

The consideration was determined by an independent valuation and other terms of the transaction were the same as those offered to unrelated purchasers.

The audit committee and board of directors have approved the transaction and are satisfied that the terms of the transaction are fair and reasonable and are not prejudicial to the interests of the company and its minority shareholders, said Yanlord in the announcement.

Yanlord shares finished S$0.01 lower at S$1.67 on Monday.