SHANGHAI Forte Land Co Ltd disclosed yesterday its first-half profit attributable to equity holders plunged 78 percent to 62 million yuan (US$8.16 million), or 0.025 yuan per share, from the same period a year earlier.
It said the tumble was mainly due to a sharp fall in completed and booked spaces and additional provisions for a land appreciation tax.
Six-month sales ending on June 30 jumped 36.1 percent to approximately 1.33 billion yuan, the local developer said yesterday in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
During the six-month period, the company sold properties by contracts with an aggregate built-up space of 420,647 square meters, a year-on-year jump of 55 percent. Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing were its main markets accounting for some 88 percent.
The company said 33 projects were under development while work had started on six projects, and five projects were completed during the period.
As of June 30, Forte has a total land bank of approximately 5.37 million square meters in eight Chinese cities - Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuxi, Chongqing, Beijing, Tianjin, Haikou and Hangzhou - which are sufficient for the company's future development over the next four to five years, Fan Wei, president of Forte, said.
For the second half of the year, Forte said it plans to issue yuan-denominated A shares to expand its finances.