On 26 September, the 2023 Quality Chinese Real Estate Enterprises ESG Award Ceremony held at Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel in Hong Kong and Yuexiu Property was awarded the "2023 Quality Chinese Real Estate Enterprises ESG Award"。Over the past seven years, Yuexiu Property has been awarded the "Quality Chinese Real Estate Enterprise Award" consecutively. This year, in response to the central government's dual carbon policy, and influenced by the global emphasis on environmental protection, social responsibility and corporate governance (ESG) and the Sustainable Development Goals, the organisers strengthened the comprehensive coverage of the ESG report in the original selection criteria, and launched the ESG Awards. Yuexiu Property won the award with its excellent performance in ESG management, solid operational performance and healthy and safe financial position, fully reflecting the recognition of the capital market.
The "Quality Chinese Real Estate Group Awards" is representative and authoritative and is the only award for Chinese real estate companies in Hong Kong and has become one of the reference indicators for investors. The objective of the ESG Awards is to recognise the contribution of the industry's elite to society and to provide investors with an opportunity to analyse quality companies. The Awards are judged by a professional panel comprising the Hong Kong Stock Analysts Association and a number of senior stock critics, based on the criteria of environmental protection, social responsibility, corporate governance, corporate outlook, brand image and sustainability goals, with Deloitte China acting as the data reviewer, and a stringent judging process to select industry role models in order to recognise the contribution of quality companies to the development of the society and economic.
Yuexiu Property ESG Performance
Yuexiu Property's ESG management has been continuously improved and has published annual social responsibility reports since 2010 and renamed as Environmental, Social and Governance Report since 2016, making it a pioneer in the industry for ESG management.
Yuexiu Property adheres to the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, integrates the concept of sustainability into its business strategies and operations, and perseveres in the pursuit of synergistic development of business development with the environment and society while fulfilling its economic responsibilities. Meanwhile, Yuexiu Property has continued to improve its sustainability governance structure. In accordance with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD), a TCFD working group was established under the structure of the ESG Committee, which is responsible for identifying the specific risks and opportunities related to climate and implementing the various tasks.
In addition,in terms of sustainability ratings and awards, Yuexiu Property has continued to improve its ESG rating with excellent ESG performance. It was selected as a constituent of the Hang Seng Climate Change 1.5°C Target Index in May 2022, received a BB rating from MSCI -ESG Rating, a 2-star green rating from GRESB, a 4.5-star rating from the China CSR Report Rating Expert Committee for the 2022 Annual ESG Report, and was selected as the "Greater Bay Area State-owned Enterprises ESG Development Index" (Rank No.4) and " China ESG Listed Company Greater Bay Area Pioneer 50 " (Rank No.32).
Yuexiu Property disclosed its 2030 Sustainability Vision in the 2022 Annual ESG Report released on 24 April 2023 for the first time, and on the same day,version 2.0 of the "Sustainability" section on its official website as well as the "Sustainability" section to its official WeChat account was launched, providing more disclosure channels and information for stakeholders to understand the progress of Yuexiu Property's sustainability progress.
Yuexiu Property Business Performance
Yuexiu Property continued to pursue high-quality development of its operations. In the first half of 2023, it achieved operating revenue of approximately RMB32.10 billion, an increase of 2.6% year-on-year, profit attributable to shareholders of approximately RMB2.18 billion, an increase of 27.5% year-on-year and core net profit of approximately RMB2.15 billion, an increase of 0.8% year-on-year. It has maintained a dividend payout ratio of 40% for seven consecutive years, continuing to create value for the company's shareholders. Meanwhile, Yuexiu Property also achieved contracted sales growth against the trend, with contracted sales for the first half of the year reaching RMB83.63 billion, an increase of 71.0% year-on-year, and achieving 63.4% of its full-year sales target of RMB132 billion.
Yuexiu Property continued to make precise investments in acquiring high-quality land parcels, adding 11 new high-quality lands parcels with a total GFA of approximately 2.17 million square metres in eight cities in the first half of the year through the "6+1" unique and diversified land acquisition platform. As at 30 June, Yuexiu Property had a total landbank of 28.13 million sq.m., laying a solid foundation for sustainable growth in the future.
The financial position of Yuexiu Property remains sound. As at 30 June 2023, Yuexiu Property held cash and cash equivalents and monitored deposits totalling approximately RMB49.25 billion, with sufficient liquidity. The total liabilities/total assets ratio (excluding unearned revenue), net gearing ratio and cash to short-term debt ratio are 66.8%, 53.2% and 4.2 times respectively, with the "Three Red Lines" indicators maintained in "green lights" and further optimised. It continued to maintain its credit ratings of investment grade at Baa3 and BBB- by Moody’s and Fitch respectively with stable outlooks.
Yuexiu Property will continue to adopt "Refined Management" and "New Capabilities, New Mechanisms and New Culture"as its new development objectives and driving force, pursue sustainable and steady development in the new competitive landscape of the industry, and take the path of high-quality sustainable and steady development to continuously improve shareholders' capital returns and shareholder value.