China Vanke posts $1.1 billion H1 core loss, sees positive cash flow
Adds company comment, details, background throughout
By Clare Jim
HONG KONG, Aug 30 (Reuters) -China Vanke 000002.SZ, a major state-backed property developer, on Friday reported its first core loss of 7.6 billion yuan ($1.07 billion) in the first half, but it said its cash flow returned to positive in the second quarter.
Vanke 2202.HK expected cash flow to stay positive for the rest of the year, adding it is in talks to dispose or spin off 19 projects to raise more funds.
The core loss during the first six months, which excludes the impact of foreign exchange and changes in the value of assets, compared with an 8.7 billion-yuan core profit a year earlier.
Net loss during the period was 9.9 billion yuan, compared with a net profit of 9.9 billion yuan a year earlier, hurt by a slide in revenue and margins, 2.1 billion yuan of provisions and losses in financial investments and assets disposals.
"It's a very big loss; we feel deeply ashamed," company secretary Zhu Xu told an earnings conference.
Once deemed a financially healthy developer by investors, its shares and bonds faced sell-offs early this year on cash flow concerns, triggering a rare central government directive asking financial firms to step up support to help the Shenzhen-based company beat a liquidity crisis.
Vanke completed new financing and refinancing totalling 61.2 billion yuan in the first six months, while interest-bearing borrowings dropped 17.2 billion yuan by end-July compared with the beginning of year.
It has also accelerated asset sales and spinning off commercial assets to raise fund totalling 20.4 billion yuan in the first seven months.
Together with a sales push and lower construction expenses required in the second half compared with last year, Vanke expected its cash flow to stay positive in the remaining year.
China's new home prices fell at their fastest pace in nine years in July, falling 4.9% from a year earlier, as a slew of support policies failed to stabilise prices and restore confidence in a property sector that slipped into a debt crisis in mid-2021, sending many developers into default.
Most property developers have also reported widening losses or a plunge in profits in the first half of 2024.
Moody's cut Vanke's corporate family rating to B1 from Ba3 earlier this month, citing weak contracted sales and ongoing margin pressure. The rating agency maintained a negative outlook on the company.
While Moody's cautioned the company has sizable refinancing needs over the next 12 to 18 months, it said Vanke's liquidity will remain adequate and its cash should fully cover its land payments and refinancing needs during the period.
($1 = 7.0900 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Jonathan Oatis
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