China Vanke boss acknowledges ‘pressure’ as 2023 profits slump amid liquidity distress rumours
- The embattled property developer posted a 46.4 per cent drop in net profit for 2023, alarming investors
- ‘There is some pressure, but we can get through,’ says Zhu Jiusheng, Vanke’s president and CEO
Net profit came in at 12.16 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) versus 22.68 billion yuan in the same period of 2022, according to a filing by Vanke made to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday night.
Core profit, which excludes the impact of foreign exchange and changes in the value of assets and financial instruments, stood at 9.79 billion yuan, plunging by more than 50 per cent from the same period the previous year.
Revenue fell 7.6 per cent to 465.7 billion yuan from a year earlier, while the company’s net debt ratio rose by 11 percentage points to 54.7 per cent.
“Although we have stressed the awareness of surviving very early, it seems now we need to strengthen the awareness of crisis [management],” chairman Yu Liang said during a post-results press conference on Friday morning.
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“A company that wants to survive in the fragile market … also needs to be fully prepared if there is an unexpected downfall.”
