(Yicai Global) March 25 -- Fifteen Beijing-based property management companies under Chinese office developer Soho China were fined a combined CNY115 million (USD18.1 million) on March 21 for charging their clients electricity rates higher than the normal tariff, the Beijing market regulator said.

Yet Chinese law states that “no businesses or individuals may levy an electricity surcharge on consumers.” The company’s Shanghai subsidiaries were penalized CNY86.64 million in December last year for the same offence.

If this was't bad enough, the same month a CNY709 million penalty for tax evasion was levied on Beijing Jianhua Real Estate, a firm controlled by Soho China Chair Pan Shiyi, driving the Beijing-based developer into the red.

Soho China posted losses of CNY123 million (USD19.3 million) in 2021, compared with profit of CNY537 million in 2020, according to its latest earnings report released yesterday. Revenue was down 22.7 percent to CNY2.2 billion (USD345.9 million) over the period.

Soho China has a debt-to-net worth ratio of 44 percent last year, according to the financial report. It has liabilities of CNY18 billion (USD2.8 billion), CNY1.7 billion of which is due within the coming year.

The developer said earlier this month that it will sell 32,000 square meters of prime properties in Beijing and Shanghai at a 30 percent discount and will use all of the proceeds to repay its debts.

Soho China’s share price [HKG:0410] was trading down 3.18 percent at HKD1.52 (USD0.20) as of 12 p.m. China time today.

Editor: Kim Taylor