On March 4th, Country Garden held a monthly group management meeting, and Yang Huiyan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Group, attended the meeting. The information revealed at the meeting shows that with the continuous expansion of the coverage of the "white list" of real estate financing. As of March 3, 2024, Country Garden Group has included 217 projects in the "white list", and the number has increased significantly, and the existing projects have been approved by the bank for lending.
Yang Huiyan emphasized that policy support is an important support for the company to meet market challenges. Although the market demand side may not recover quickly, the government’s easing policy has provided some support for the market. Companies should actively seek the support of the government and financial institutions to form a closed loop of funds, thus ensuring delivery and operation. In addition, Yang Huiyan also said that the company’s founders and shareholders never wanted to lie flat. On the other hand, the company’s team was excellent and shared difficulties with the company. The two have formed a good positive cycle, and excellent teams have given shareholders great confidence to overcome difficulties and cross the cycle, making the company more competitive.
According to the middle finger monitoring, since the establishment of the urban real estate financing coordination mechanism, the number of projects reported by Zhengzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming and other cities has exceeded 200, and some real estate enterprises have also entered the white list. Under the closed loop of "push-feedback" work, the opportunities for projects of real estate enterprises to obtain financing support are also expected to increase, which is conducive to further stabilizing market expectations.
According to the information disclosed at the meeting, Country Garden is actively taking measures to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, trying to reduce cash flow expenditure by reducing non-operating expenses, and actively increasing cash inflow through sales to ensure sufficient funds to support delivery and daily operations.
The data shows that in 2023, Country Garden delivered more than 600,000 houses. According to the plan, Country Garden is expected to deliver more than 480,000 sets in 2024. "The whole market is still relatively cold, and we need to be mentally prepared." Yang Huiyan said that Country Garden’s own resources can guarantee the delivery of houses this year. She also pointed out that although resources are sufficient, the problem lies in the mismatch of time and space. Therefore, we should cherish the use of resources and wait for the opportunity for the market to pick up.
Yang Huiyan said that the current problems faced by the company are consistent with the industry. In the short term, it is a liquidity problem, and in the medium and long term, it is a problem of balance sheet repair. "Although it may take a long time for the industry to recover, although the road is far away, overcoming difficulties step by step can always go out; Although things are difficult to do, they must be done. Any problem will be seriously faced and will eventually be solved. "
Mo Bin, president of Country Garden Group, stressed that the first thing to ensure delivery is to return to work in an orderly manner, which is the most important task to ensure delivery in the region at present. It is reported that Country Garden’s projects in Guangdong, Shandong, Hubei, Shaanxi, Guangxi and other places are being resumed.
On February 28th, Country Garden announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that the company was informed that Ever Credit Limited (the petitioner) filed a liquidation petition with the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on February 27th, 2024, concerning the unpaid term loan with principal of about HK$ 1.6 billion between the petitioner (the lender) and the company (the borrower) and accrued interest. The company will strongly oppose the petition.
On the evening of March 4th, Country Garden issued a further announcement on the liquidation petition, and the company will consider whether to apply to the Hong Kong High Court for an authorization order in the light of the progress of its overseas reorganization at a later stage. The company will inform its shareholders and investors of the relevant decisions in due course and make further announcements.