On August 30, Agile Group Holdings Co., Ltd. (Agile, 3383.HK) announced that it had deposited sufficient funds into a designated bank account to repay approximately US$360 million of senior notes due on August 31.

This means that the company completed the repayment of the last debt due in August on schedule.

  At the same time, Agile disclosed its performance report for the first half of 2022.

  The report shows that the company has maintained steady development in real estate main business, diversified business, financial status and other aspects.

Especially with the smooth progress of debt repayment, the company's net debt ratio in the first half of the year was further reduced to 48.3% compared with the end of last year, and the total cash and bank deposits amounted to RMB 25.925 billion.

Debt reduction effect is obvious

  The senior notes redeemed by Agile were issued on August 27, 2021, with a coupon rate of 4.85% and a total amount of US$400 million, which will mature on August 31.

On August 22, Agile has issued an announcement to redeem nearly US$40 million of the notes in advance, and the repayment this time is the principal and interest of the remaining due notes.

Agile said that the redemption of the notes will not have a material impact on the company's financial position.

  According to public information, Agile’s next USD senior note due is January 2025.

  August was the peak of Agile's debt repayment.

Previously, the company had issued three announcements on August 11, August 22, and August 25, accumulatively repaying more than 2.6 billion yuan in debt.

Including this time, Agile's accumulated debt repayments in August exceeded 5 billion yuan.

The timely redemption of the note also means that Agile has survived the debt repayment peak in August, during which the company has repaid all its debts on time.

  With the smooth progress of debt repayment, Agile's debt ratio has also continued to decline.

Data from the semi-annual report showed that Agile's total loan amount was 70.2 billion yuan, a decrease of 16.3% from the end of 2021; the net debt ratio was further reduced to 48.3%, a decrease of 2.5 percentage points from the end of last year.

  From the perspective of financing, through the implementation of prudent financial strategies, optimization and expansion of financing channels, and control of financing costs, Agile's actual loan interest rate further dropped to 5.59% in the first half of the year.

As of June 30, 2022, Agile held a total of 25.93 billion yuan in cash and bank deposits.

It is worth noting that although Agile also repaid a large amount of debt in July and August, this part was not reflected in the performance data for the first half of the year.

This means that Agile's current actual debt ratio is lower than the data disclosed in the semi-annual report.

  Agile said that a healthy financial position is the backbone of the company's rapid business development.

In the first half of the year, the company consolidated and optimized its financial structure through multi-channel financing methods, strengthened cash flow management, and achieved a balance between business development and financial management.

Guaranteed handover, stable main business

  The latest financial report was released on the same day as the debt repayment announcement.

In the semi-annual report, Agile released many positive signals.

  In the first half of the year, Agile's operating income was 31.6 billion yuan, and its net profit was 3.354 billion yuan.

Although both revenue and profit decreased compared with the same period of last year, it still achieved positive profits. Agile was also one of the few private real estate enterprises that achieved large-scale profits in the first half of the year.

In addition, in the first half of the year, the company's operating cash flow was 4.3 billion yuan, which also remained positive.

The real estate business remains Agile's core business.

  In the first half of the year, Agile's real estate business remained stable. As of June 30, 2022, Agile's pre-sale amount reached 39.45 billion yuan, corresponding to a pre-sold building area of ​​3.07 million square meters.

  Guaranteeing delivery is an important task for Agile in the first half of the year. After full efforts, in the first half of the year, Agile completed the delivery of 75 projects in 20 cities including Guangzhou, Foshan, Beijing, and Shanghai, with a total delivery of more than 27,000 households and 2.54 million square meters. .

  Agile said that in the second half of the year, the company will continue to ensure nodes, bottom lines, and quality, and strive to complete the year's tasks.

  In addition to the real estate business, Agile's diversified business is a highlight.

  In the first half of the year, the company's diversified income accounted for 24.9%, an increase of 8.1 percentage points year-on-year.

Among them, the property sector performed outstandingly.

  In the first half of the year, the area under management and contract area of ​​Agile's property service segment, Agile, both increased significantly, amounting to 528.6 million square meters and 706.5 million square meters respectively.

The third-party projects of Ya Life have expanded rapidly through market expansion, acquisition and integration, etc., with a contracted area (including controlling member companies) of 558.5 million square meters, including a new contract area of ​​more than 43.2 million square meters, an increase from December 31, 2021 8.4%, accounting for 79.1% of the total contracted area, which is the main source of the growth of Ya Life's scale.

  The environmental protection business made rapid progress in the first half of the year. The company obtained multiple "Hazardous Waste Business Licenses", and the newly approved treatment qualifications cover multiple formats such as incineration, physical and chemical treatment, flexible landfill and rigid landfill, which accelerated the transformation of production capacity and released effective capacity.

  Under the guidance of the operation model of "focusing on real estate and coordinated development of diversified businesses", Agile has also actively developed a number of "new tracks" with growth potential.

  In 2021, the company will establish strategic cooperative relations with WM Motor and Zhujiang Bridge, and become its shareholders, formally deploying new energy vehicles and condiments.

Among them, Agile currently holds a 6.46% stake in WM Motor. In June 2022, WM Motor completed the submission of a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

  Agile said that the proportion of revenue from diversified businesses continued to increase, reflecting that the company's operating model of "focusing on real estate and coordinated development of diversified businesses" continued to bear fruit, laying a solid foundation for the company's long-term development.

Seek development in the future

  Since 2021, in the face of the new situation of the real estate market, Agile has actively sought changes, adjusted and optimized the company's strategy in a timely manner, and made the company's short-, medium- and long-term strategic positioning and development path clearer.

  Agile said that in the short term, it will continue to focus on the word "stable" to maintain the steady development of the company's various businesses; in the medium and long term, Agile will focus more on core cities and the main real estate business.

At the same time, through organizational change, the management is flatter and more efficient.

  The strategic positioning is gradually clear, the debt pressure is continuously reduced, and various businesses remain stable. These positive signals will be of great help to Agile's development in the next stage.

According to the semi-annual report, as of June 30, 2022, Agile's land reserve reached 43.49 million square meters, and the land reserve was sufficient to meet future sales needs, especially in areas with great development potential such as the Greater Bay Area, the Yangtze River Delta, and Hainan.

  The announcement shows that Agile has 51 projects in the Greater Bay Area, with a land reserve area of ​​about 10.55 million square meters, accounting for 24.3% of the overall land reserve, which can be developed by the company in the next 5-6 years.

There are 47 projects in the Yangtze River Delta, with a land reserve of 5.29 million square meters, accounting for 12.2%; 7 projects in Hainan, with a land reserve of 3.08 million square meters, accounting for 7.1%.

Agile's land reserves in the Yangtze River Delta and Hainan are sufficient for the company's development in the next 3-5 years.

  Agile said that the company adopts a prudent and active development strategy, focusing on the Chinese real estate market, and expanding overseas markets with a prudent strategy.

With the continuous improvement of people's demand for living quality, product and service capabilities have increasingly become the core competitiveness of housing enterprises.

  In terms of products, Agile has successively launched a "5N full-dimensional product system" including Yayuan, Yajun, Yafu, Yachen to Wenlv's mountain and sea series, covering urban high-end products, low-density products, Life market, tourism real estate, etc.

The pursuit of quality is the common feature of these projects; in terms of service, Agile has built a full-cycle service standard "5S+ life service system" from inspection to check-in.

Relying on this system, Agile's services have achieved a transition from differentiation to standardization and then to branding.

The improvement of product capability and service capability is the competitiveness and driving force for the future development of Agile.

  Regarding the next real estate market, Agile stated in its semi-annual report that the government will continue to adhere to the long-term goal of "housing, not speculating," and constantly improve real estate regulation policies, focusing on solving housing problems in big cities, and setting the main tone for the future development of China's real estate. .

Under the policy of "policy by city", the relaxation of regulation continues to increase, and the local governments gradually slow down the regulation, which is conducive to the recovery of real estate industry sales.

  The company is convinced that, by sticking to the operation model of focusing on real estate and coordinated development of multi-distance business, through the efforts of all employees, the overall business will be able to develop steadily, further expand the brand awareness of Agile across the country, and occupy a certain position in the fiercely competitive market.