Troubled Chinese developer Country Garden’s loss for first half of 2024 narrows

Foshan-based developer also says revenue for first half of 2024 fell 55 per cent to 102 billion yuan (US$13.9 billion)

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A woman passed a Country Garden development in Tianjin, China. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:50pm, 14 Jan 2025Updated: 10:21am, 15 Jan 2025

Embattled Chinese property developer Country Garden Holdings said its net loss for the first half of 2024 narrowed to 12.8 billion yuan (US$1.75 billion) from 48.9 billion yuan a year earlier, as the slump in China’s property market continued into 2025 despite Beijing’s recent support for the sector.

The Foshan-based company also said its revenue for the first half of 2024 fell 55 per cent from a year earlier to about 102 billion yuan. In a statement on Tuesday, the company said it expects its results to improve for all of 2024.

For 2023, Country Garden said its net loss widened to 178.4 billion from 6.1 billion yuan a year earlier. Revenue for the period fell 6.8 per cent to 401 billion yuan from 430.4 billion yuan in 2022. Its total liabilities stood at US$164 billion as of the end of 2023, down from US$195 billion a year earlier.

Once China’s largest property developer by sales, Country Garden had US$16.4 billion in offshore debt as of December 2023. On January 9, the company said it had reached an agreement with its lenders to trim its debt by up to US$11.6 billion. The restructuring proposal included options to convert debt to cash with a 90 per cent haircut, as well as an extension of maturities by as many as 11.5 years.

This year the company has US$2.8 billion worth of offshore bonds and 6.6 billion yuan of onshore bonds coming due, according to data compiled by S&P Global (China) Ratings.

Country Garden said its losses in 2023 were mainly attributable to “sizeable” inventory writedown provisions, and writedowns in its financial assets and guarantees amid a market downturn.

“Despite a sluggish market in the first half of 2024, the substantial impairment provisions made in 2023 have considerably decreased the need for further inventory writedowns,” it said in a separate statement. “Consequently, the projected losses for the full year of 2024 are expected to significantly narrow.”