China’s Country Garden forecasts bigger loss after deliveries slump

(Reuters) -Embattled Chinese property developer Country Garden on Friday warned of a bigger loss for the first half of fiscal 2025, after deliveries of housing projects halved from 2024 and asset impairments rose.

The company delivered about 74,000 housing units in the first half, compared with over 150,000 in the same period last year.

The primary concern remains resolving issues around debt, Country Garden said.

Once China’s largest developer, the company defaulted on $11 billion in offshore bonds in late 2023, deepening a sector-wide crisis that had led to high-profile failures such as China Evergrande Group.

Earlier in August, it reached an agreement with a core group of bank creditors that holds 49% of the company’s offshore debt, marking another step in its $14.1 billion restructuring plan.

It expects a loss in the range of 18.5 billion yuan ($2.58 billion) to 21.5 billion yuan for the six months ended June, higher than the 15.1 billion yuan reported last year.

China’s property slump has slowed housing project deliveries and squeezed earnings of developers as they struggle to revive their businesses.

Country Garden also said gross profit margins remained low due to a fall in the scale of settlement for its real estate development projects. It has recorded higher impairments against its real estate projects.

The company will report its first-half results on August 29.

($1 = 7.1792 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

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