China Vanke's Q1 profit up 15.8%

BEIJING - The net profit of China Vanke Co, the country's largest property developer by market value, rose 15.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2012 to 1.4 billion yuan ($222.3 million), according to new financial results.

Revenue climbed 29.8 percent to 10.35 billion yuan in the first three months, the company said in a statement filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday.

It sold 3.009 million square meters of housing during the period, with sales value reaching 31.07 billion yuan, according to the statement.

While the sector generally faces increasing financial restraint due to the government's persistent control efforts, Vanke said its currency capital by March had expanded to 39.05 billion yuan from the 34.24 billion registered at the beginning of the year.

Tan Huajie, Vanke board secretary, said the company's monthly transactions had seen big fluctuations in the first quarter, with sales in 14 major cities hitting the lowest level since 2006 in January, down 72 percent year-on-year.

ALthough sales had gradually picked up in February and March, the company still saw declining transactions for the whole quarter.

Compared with the same period last year, sales in terms of floor area in the 14 cities dropped 25.5 percent while turnover across the country declined 15.5 percent, the statement said.

China started adopting measures -- including tightened credit, a third-home purchase ban, higher down payments and property tax trials -- to rein in the runaway market in 2010.

Tan said Vanke will seek steady growth amid the market adjustment and stick to the principle of "proactive sales and cautious investment" to respond to changes.