(Yicai) Aug. 30 -- Shares of Sunac China Holdings soared after the property developer giant that has undergone debt restructuring said its net loss shrank 2.7 percent in the first half of this year from a year ago by focusing on ensuring project delivery and resolving debt.

Sunac [HKG: 1918] soared 10.5 percent to HKD1.03 (17 US cents) as of 2 p.m. in Hong Kong today, after earlier jumping by as much as 15.1 percent.

Net loss was nearly CNY15 billion (USD2.1 billion) in the first six months of this year, the Tianjin-based company announced in a financial report yesterday. Operating revenue tumbled 41 percent to CNY34.3 billion, it added.

Sunac has long ranked among the top ten developers in China by property sales, which remained its main source of income after accounting for 82 percent of its total, it said. Revenue from property management services made up 9.9 percent, while the rest came from parks, commercial properties, hotels, and other cultural and tourism services, it added.

"Sunac has always taken the guaranteed home delivery as its primary operational objective," Chairman Sun Hongbin said. Thanks to various support policies, it delivered around 58,000 new homes in 52 cities in the first half of the year, with the delivery target for the second half being over 170,000 homes, Sun added.

"In the first half of 2024, Sunac continued to proactively resolve its debt risks, and its overall debt remained stable," Sun said. "Given that the market recovery continued to fall short of expectations, it has rolled over the principal and interest payments on its onshore public debentures, which would have been paid in June and September, to the end of the year."

Sunac was one of the first large Chinese developers to go through debt restructuring. On Dec. 30, 2022, it completed the extension of its first maturing domestic corporate bond while completing the restructuring of its offshore debt on Nov. 20 last year.

Sunac's total borrowings amounted to about CNY277.4 billion (USD39.1 billion) as of June 30, with a cash balance (including cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash) of around CNY25.7 billion, the firm said. The principal amount of borrowings maturing and unpaid was just below CNY107 billion.

"As the real estate market downturn continued and the adjustment depth and time exceeded expectations, in the second half of 2024, Sunac will continue to actively communicate with creditors on current debt problems and potential debt pressures, seek extension and overall solutions, and strive to maintain the stability of debt fundamentals," Sun noted.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev