Country Garden refocuses to stay competitive post-pandemic

Chinese property developer Country Garden is accelerating its pace to develop new business in high-tech and modern agriculture, as its main business faces slowdowns amid tightened government regulations and the coronavirus pandemic.

The Foshan, Guangdong province-based company poured about 2.65 billion yuan ($405 million) into research and development of new business last year, with 90 percent being invested in construction robots, company president Mo Bin said.

"Through our two and a half years of efforts, 18 of our 46 construction robots have already been applied commercially and the market effect is good," he said at its 2020 annual results press conference held online on Thursday.

The construction robots will gradually achieve mass production in the second half of this year, he said. "We have confidence our construction robot business will begin to make profits next year. The new business will play an active role in supporting our main business, further enhancing our competitiveness (in the property sector)."

Robot restaurants are another portion of Country Garden's high-tech drive. Mo said the company has opened 80 such intelligent restaurants so far and he is also "confident" they could achieve profitability next year.

He added the property developer will also continue to pour resources into modern agriculture, which he said will also bring high returns to the company and investors.

Country Garden's strengthened efforts on new business development comes at a time when the company is grappling with a slowdown in its main business, as the central government tightens its policy on real estate and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic lingers.

Contracted sales attributable to shareholders grew 3.34 percent year-on-year to 570.66 billion yuan in 2020, according to its annual report. Revenue of the company dropped 4.7 percent year-on-year to 462.86 billion yuan, while its net profit stood at 54.12 billion yuan, down 11.6 percent from a year earlier.

With the gradual demise of land and financial dividends, dividends brought by sound management will become greater, which means those with stronger competitiveness will gain a larger market share, Mo said, adding the company has constantly been striving to enhance its comprehensive competitiveness.

"We have confidence to achieve an annual 10 percent growth in sales in the coming three years," he said.

Shares of Country Garden dropped 4.36 percent to end at HK$9 on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday.