(Yicai Global) Sept. 10 -- Shares in China Evergrande Group continued to plumb new depths today after the heavily-indebted real estate titan said that September sales are expected to take a big knock as negative coverage about the firm’s cash crisis dents homebuyers’ confidence.

Evergrande’s share price [HKG:3333] was trading down 11.87 percent at HKD2.97 (USD0.38) at 2:45 p.m. today. Its stock has shrivelled 80 percent since the start of the year.

Evergrande’s sales have almost halved in the last three months, the Shenzhen-based firm said today. In August it achieved CNY38 billion (USD5.9 billion) in sales down from CNY71.63 billion (USD11.1 billion) in June. This will make it more difficult for the company to collect payments and puts additional pressure on cash flow, it said.

Efforts to ease liquidity pressure are not proceeding as smoothly than expected, Evergrande said. Although it continues to meet with potential investors, the sale of its headquarters in Hong Kong is still not finalized and there has not been much progress in selling equities.

Rumors circulating that Evergrande is bankrupt and undergoing restructuring are completely untrue, the developer said yesterday. Although the company is facing unprecedented difficulties, Evergrande will meet its corporate responsibilities, do everything possible to resume normal operations and protect the rights and interests of customers, it added.

Evergrande has been grappling with mounting debts brought on by overaggressive expansion and is under great pressure by regulators to reduce its debt burden as they rein in excessive borrowing in the real estate sector. Struggling to pay its dues, the group is currently embroiled in a number of lawsuits.

Editor: Kim Taylor