Since 2016, the Group has taken the lead in entering Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and has successively obtained a number of quality projects in Shenzhen, Jiangmen and Macau. In 2018, it established a joint venture company in Hong Kong to formally enter the Hong Kong real estate market. Also, the Group purchased the quality properties of Shanghai from Mr. Shum Tin Ching (“Mr. Shum”), Chairman, non-executive Director and ultimate controlling shareholder of the Company, thus enhancing its brand influence in the Yangtze River Delta Region. In addition, the Group also succeeded in expanding its business coverage to key provincial capital cities, including Guiyang and Urumqi. The Group also ventured into countries and regions along the “Belt and Road” initiative, such as acquiring fine land parcels in Cambodia. In addition, the Group acquired a property management business, for which property management services of the Group was deeply rooted in Yangtze River Delta Region. In 2020, the Group obtained various projects located in major cities of Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province through public auction, signifying the Group’s international development continuously.

In the first half of 2020, despite the uncertainty outside the PRC brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic performance of the PRC maintained at a reasonable level and showed overall stable growth. A high level of policy coordination was achieved between the policies of both the Central People’s Government (the “Central Government”) and local governments (the “Local Governments”) of the PRC on the property market and also in terms of its supply and demand management. The Central Government made its timely remarks on the principle of “housing is for accommodation instead of speculation” at some key meetings, and Local Governments responded to latest market changes and adopted city-specific policies such as “one city one policy”, under which market performance remained stable.

Looking back to the first half of 2020, developers have been resuming construction and have obtained satisfying sales performance, with an increase recorded in both sales volume and sales area for the top 100 real estate companies in the PRC and an average increase of 5% in sales volume for the top 50 real estate companies in the PRC, maintaining a steady growth in the real estate market in the PRC. According to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics, under the impacts of COVID-19 and Lunar New Year holiday, the sales of residential buildings in the first two months of this year recorded a period-on-period decrease of 35%, and the decrease reduced in March and April to 12% and 3% respectively; a significant recovery of sales by the end of the first half of 2020, as the sales in May and June recovered and had an increase of 15%, primarily driven by second-tier and strong thirdtier cities as the Local Governments in these cities had less strict restrictions than first-tier cities on the property market and the economic conditions were better than that of lower-tier cities. From January to June in 2020, the investment in national property development amounted to approximately RMB6,278 billion, representing a period-on-period increase of approximately 2%; the sold area of commodity properties amounted to 694 million sq.m., representing a period-on-period decrease of approximately 8%; and the sales amount of commodity properties amounted to approximately RMB6,689.5 billion, representing a period-on-period decrease of approximately 5%.

In the second half of 2020, against the backdrop of escalation of the US-China trade war, it is expected that the long-term outlook of the economy in China will nonetheless continue to be optimistic and the property control policies will be aimed at maintaining stability, and the city-specific adjustment measures will still be the keynote of property control. Maintaining the stability of property market will still remain as the top priority of the Central Government in the second half of the year, which in turn is conducive to achieving long-term control objectives of stabilising land and housing prices, and maintaining market expectations. In view of the challenges and opportunities brought by the new trend in the property market, the Group will be committed to implementing steady financial policies and risk control measures, ensuring construction quality and safety, strengthening its contracted sales and receipt of sales proceeds and applying strict control over its various costs and expenses, so as to secure a stable operating cash flow as well as investment returns.

Further, the Group will continue to replenish its premium land bank by adopting practical strategies to optimise the geographical layout of its projects and devise investment portfolios to suit the different urbanisation stages of the PRC with a view to capturing the different demands for the purchase of property in various local markets. In future, on a foundation of solid development, the Group will make flexible adjustments according to various local market situations and achieve high quality and all-rounded development for continuous increase of profitability in order to maximise the value for its shareholders.