New World Development

Friends from the investment sector, greetings. Welcome to New World Development Company Limited's FY 2024 Annual Presentation Online Analyst Briefing. I am Patrick Chong, Head of Investors Relations, the moderator for this session. Now let me introduce to you our management in attendance. They are New World Development Non-Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Adrian Chang, New World Development CEO, Mr. Eric Ma, New World Development New World China CEO, Ms. Echo Wong, New World Development CFO, Mr. Edward Lau. If you have any questions, please feel free to type your questions into the chat box on webcast. I will read out your questions. Now I will pass the floor to Adrian. Right. Regarding FY 2024 results, I would like to clarify a point. Please do not misunderstand that we have lost $20 billion of cash. Actually, we noticed that in the market, there are many people who have aroused a lot of misconception. The main reason is that in the first half of the year, we sold... 8 billion non-cash loss of NWS and there is 9.2 billion property non-cash impairment and provisioning. So if we only look at our operating profits, core operating profit, it's 6.9 billion. We're only down 18%. Later on, Eric will elaborate. Now, I would like to spend some time to talk about my move in the next stage. In the past 10-odd years, thank you so much, all of you investors. Thank you for your support. In the past 10-odd years, New World could grow strongly thanks to all investors' support. I joined New World Development in 2007. I have been the joint general manager, and later on I was appointed as executive vice chairman and CEO. All along, I have been working very closely with various levels of the company together with our team. I did a lot of talent development, brand building, administrative management, technology, innovation, and so on, and we have made good progress. So with our team's efforts, we have created quite a lot of things that other people don't have, but we have, or other people have, and we are even more outstanding. So, for example, the pavilion collection residential series, with six projects together, we have created contracted sales of almost HK$100 billion. At the beginning of sales of Pavilion Farm, it has become a king of sales after 1997. And recently, Pavilion Forests, had created a new sales record in the recent three years on Kitech Runway. Another team had created a high-end brand, K11. After COVID-19, the retail environment was difficult, but K11 team has been innovating and created a unique business, cultural business circle. And in the past five years, CAGR of K11 was 10%. So this shows that K11 is very good at its operating strategy. It is outstanding. In my eyes, the K11 team or the whole team is very outstanding, and it has ridden out a lot of storm. It will become better. In life, we need to keep on learning and give full play to our strengths. I thank the SARG for their trust. So they have appointed me to be chairman of arts and culture. Events Committee, member of Financial Development Council, and also the chairman of Hong Kong Wealth Legacy Academy. So after detailed consideration, I have decided that in my next stage in life, I would like to devote more time to public office and public work so that I can make more contributions to Hong Kong as well as to our motherland. So a few weeks ago, I took the initiative to resign from the position of Executive Vice Chairman and CEO. I am very happy that my father, Dr. Henry Chang, respects me and supports my decision. Our new CEO is Mr. Eric Ma. We have known each other for many years. We have been working together for a long time, and I have full confidence in him. Now I will be the non-executive vice chairman. I will continue to contribute to the commercial strategy of K11. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody in the group all along for the support and love. And once again, thank you, investors, for your support in the past 10 odd years. I wish you all the best. Thank you very much. Thank you, Adrian. Now, because he has other engagement, so he needs to leave now. So we will pass the floor to Eric. Thank you. FY24 is a challenging year for us. We face high interest rates and uncertainties in the market. In the past one year, our results were affected. But we believe that right now, we are in a repositioning moment. This year, we'll take the initiative to... make impairment to some projects and we adjusted the fair value. These adjustments are one of non-cash accounting arrangement so that during the rate cut cycle we can move on the journey in a light way. So this will help our future profit growth and pace of deleveraging. Now let me talk about development properties. At the beginning of this year, when there is full relaxation of all the stringent measures and there is also introduction, formulation of stimulation policies in the Chinese property market, both markets have seen some recovery. In June to August in the Hong Kong market, traditionally, it is a slow season. But in Hong Kong, our Pavilion Forest has achieved good results. On the mainland, the property market was relatively weak. Our sales performance is still satisfactory facing this challenging environment in order to more flexibly launch projects and set price and stimulate sales we took the initiative to make impairment to hong kong and mainland properties besides last week The US and Hong Kong announced rate cuts and we have entered the rate cut cycle. So we believe that the Hong Kong property market will recover gradually. And this proactive impairment will help our future room for increase in profitability for IPs. investment properties, we have adjusted the cap rate of some IPs and also hotel valuation. As a result, there is one-time loss in fair value, but that did not affect our cash flow. We adopted this conservative approach. Firstly, there will be better reflection in terms of our financial of the present value and we can be more defensive. And during rate cut cycle, the valuation of these assets will see more room in the future for an enhancement. With our unique cultural business model, K11's marketing performance is outstanding. So as a result, it boosts growth in our IP revenue. At the end of this year, our K11 Shenzhen Ecos and Ningbo K11 Select will start operation at the end of this year. In terms of our financials, we have sound financial position. We have diversified financing channels. In July, we returned to the international capital market to issue bonds. There are more than 60 banks with whom we have built long-term working relationship. For offshore loans and onshore development loans, they supported us a lot. From January till now, we have completed loan arrangement and loan repayment for $50 billion. In September, we completed $5 billion Hong Kong dollar loan and we signed a... unsecured loan for 1 billion Hong Kong dollar. We maintain low-cost offshore bank loans, average interest rate is high bar, plus 1.1 to 1.2 percent. For offshore, this year we completed a number of long-term, low-interest operation loan in the amount of more than 5 billion RMB. So for 10 to 15 years, the cost is as low as 2.9 to 3.15%. So our financial situation is very sound. So we undertake that we won't consider rice issue. Today we have announced our organizational restructuring. We will spin off K11 management company so that it will be a unique asset light service. And we will dispose of various businesses. This restructuring will mean that our group can focus more on our core property business and There will be scale expansion of K11 brand business. This reorganization or restructuring will enhance our operating efficiency and further improve the rate of return on our assets, now our financials. To be more specific, for our core operating profit, COP, In most time of 2024, in Hong Kong and mainland China, the property market stayed weak, and we were also affected. Sale of property and delivery of properties have decreased. In 2024, COP was $6.9 billion, down 18% year-on-year, mainly because last year... Well, this year, there were less delivery of properties. In the same period of last year, there was phases one and two delivery of Pavilion Farm. And then for IPs, we performed strongly. Our segment results recorded a growth of 9%. For K11, well, it grew 12% against the market trend. For loss attributable to shareholders, this year, It is HK$19.7 billion, mainly because there is HK$9.2 billion non-cash impairment and provisioning. Besides, we have disposed of HK$8.3 billion non-cash loss of NWS. Well, in the interim results, we have already disclosed that for G&E expenses, HK$4.2 billion, down 17% year-on-year. mainly because we have streamlined our functional departments, improved our organisation structure, lowered our internal IT and operating costs. Regarding capex, it's $14.8 billion, down 23% year-on-year. In FY25, we believe it won't be more than $15 billion. Total debts as of end of June 2024, our total debts comparing with June 2023 was down $12.4 billion. Last time we said already that we have the leveraging strategy. Now let me share with you our latest development and status. In 2024, our net gearing ratio rose to 55%, a set Earlier, there was non-cash loss and also RMB depreciation. Qianhai NCD timing crossed over the 2024 FY24. If we exclude these non-recurring impact and FX impact, and if we take into consideration NCD amounts from Qianhai, then this number will be lower by 3.3 percentage points. Even though the property market is gradually recovering in most of 2024, Hong Kong property market remained weak. Our business results were also affected. Next, I will very briefly talk about our strategy. We adopt a dual-pronged approach. We want to increase earnings and we accelerated the leveraging. We have seven main measures. Now, the cycle will have positive impact on us. Let's first take a look at our Hong Kong DP projects. In February, the government announced full relaxation of the stringent measures or abolition of the stringent measures. And there is a short recovery in the Hong Kong property market. And after that, our first brand new project performed well. In the first round of public sales, there was oversubscription of 20 times. And up to now, total contracted sales was $2.62 billion, sales ratio 77%. Well, this is about Pavilion Forest. After the short recovery, the property market turned weak. But with our Pavilion Collection brand and our word of mouth, after three years, in July this year, we launched a new project, Pavilion Forest at Kai Tak. And market response was very hot. And in recent three years on the runway, it is the project with the highest sales. In as short as two months, we sold 330 units. As of 24th September, contracted sales was 2.3 billion and sales ratio 72%. Now, we are confident that the projects to be launched will continue to be well-received. In 2025, we'll continue to launch key projects, including Phase 2 of Pavilion Forest, Wang Chou Hang Phase 5, which is in the prime location, North Point Landmark State Theatre, and also Wai Sing Road luxurious flats on the mid-levels. Altogether, there'll be 4,400 units that will be launched ASAP. Besides the rate cut cycle has started, I believe the property market will stabilise. We believe that in FY25, our DP contracted sales will reach $6 billion. Hong Kong development properties offices, apart from residential in West Kowloon, we have office projects that are also well received in the market. Given the rate cut expectation, overall property market sentiment turned more favorably in July. So as a result, buying and sales and also the leasing market had been boosted. We have received many tenants' expressions of interest. Looking at 888 Lai Chi Kok in August, all units were sold. In 2024, contracted sales reached $1.6 billion. Many renowned organizations have moved in, including Frank Muller, Hong Kong U Space, Nanyang Commercial Bank, Hong Kong Listed Companies PC Partner, So when the U.S. and Hong Kong continue to cut rates, office rental income or rental return will be more attractive to investors. With our effective sales strategy in the district, our last project to be sold is 83 Wing Hong Street office. It will be well received in the market. At the same time, we moved into 83 King Lamb Street. This year, it is the first twin tower project in West Kowloon. It is a landmark in the district. We will use it for long-term rental income purpose. Mainland China development. Today, we have a lot of news. Perhaps I will defer to Ms. Wong of New World China to elaborate. Yes, thank you, Eric. as investors, especially in the property sector, I'm sure that this is a very historical moment when everybody is happy. In the past years, I have not experienced such good news. Let me share with you policies in these two days. On the 24th, the three giants, so to speak, announced the policies to support high-quality development in the property sector and finance. So RRR will be cut, one trillion will be released, and then the For the first and second property, the down payment ratio will be lowered to 15%, a historical low level. And then the policy to optimize the financial property-related policies will be extended to 2026, relieving pressure on the property companies. And also, there is huge force to release existing land. And also, this morning there was the Politburo meeting. It was chaired by President Xi Jinping. For the first time, there was clear instructions about the economy and property market. The theme of the Politburo meeting is, in the first part, to boost the property market so that it will stop declining. And in relation to purchase restrictions, it will be relaxed. RRR and interest rate will be cut. And existing mortgage rate will be lowered. There will be destocking. White list projects will be given more lending resources, and the idle land will be revitalized. So on the 24th, support is given to the property market by the financial avenue. Today, in the Politburo meeting, there is political support for the property market. So I think this is an unprecedented strength. So I think this is going to be very effective in impacting the property market. So from a practitioner's point of view, I think on each point, all these points can help property developers and also property buyers. So each point is favorable to all these parties. Now, I believe that in the future, in various cities and regions, there will be more favorable policies for the property development. As for myself, in FY24, during this year, well, as you know, We went through very tough moments. Given so much complexity in the environment, our revenue, our contracted sales still reached 12.5 billion RMB. We completed 85% of the whole year target. Now, this ratio is much higher than our peers. I believe you have paid attention to that as well. Given such environments, how come we can achieve such good results? I think this is because of our forward-looking decisions. In the past, regarding our land bank, it is in the Greater Bay Area and Yangtze River Delta. Then up to now, our land bank is 3.7 million square meters on the mainland, 60% is in GBA and Yangtze River Delta. In this current property market, these are two most favored regions. And New World has very good quality construction, quality, good brand, and high quality property management service. So we have won the support of many residents. So that's why in the past one year, Despite the difficulties, we are able to complete 85% of our target thanks to our strong brand and thanks to our strong New World China execution team, thanks to our forward-looking layout. In FY 2024, Our main sales include key projects in Guangzhou, CBD, Guangzhou, Hanxi. We got contracted sales of 3.6 billion RMB. For old project Shenyang New World, contracted sales exceeded 1.5 billion. These two projects were number one in sales locally. So this have... This has proven the brand impact that I said just now. In the future, in 2025, we will launch Guangzhou, the Silage, Yusing, New World, Lingnan, New World, Huayue Bay, and also Shenyang New World. These are some key projects. So today, with the Politburo's policy and also the financial policies on the 24th, I believe that in terms of contracted sales, and property sales, we will see a recovery or even sustainable development. Today, Politburo said that they have started to prepare for private enterprise or private economy law. So as a result, this will help our employment a lot as well as the overall economy. So I think this is very favorable to the overall society. In the future, in FY25, DP contracted sales in mainland China will be at around 11 billion RMB. This also includes our core assets. Thank you. Thank you, Echo. Now, regarding our cultural business circle development model, this is a very unique business model. As a result, our IP segment results performed well. despite the less favorable macro environment. In FY24, segment results grew 9.3%. K11 segment results rose 11.9%. We have two main malls, Art Mall, in 2008 it opened, and there are many popular new brands moving in, attracting many young consumers. This year, in 2024, occupancy rate is high at 99% continuously. In the past five years, profit CAGR was 10.9%. For Musea, it opened in 2019. It has successfully organized many arts and culture events, including the first LV2024 early autumn men's fashion show, the first in the world, and Hong Kong's first cultural waterfront night market, this year Doraemon exhibition. After opening, we faced many different challenges, including the social movement and COVID-19. But luckily, we have got your support and we achieved good results. In 2024, occupancy rate is high at 97%. For sales and footfall, they both rose continuously. In the past five years, profit CAGR was 32.4%. Apart from K11, our offices and other malls maintained stable occupancy rates. Our management is confident that overall IP segment results will continue to grow. When we talk about attracting international brands with our very unique cultural business model, our positioning has attracted many large-scale international brands. We have been optimising tenant mix so as to drive increase in rental income. There are seven international major brands that have decided to move into Musea or they will expand their existing store, including AP, Balenciaga, Loewe, Prada, They will move into Musea in 2025. These seven big brands will double their footprint in Musea. And in July this year, Toys R Us opened Asia's first playful living concept store in... K11 Art Mall, and it is designed for kiddos. It is well-received. It is much more popular than our customers' expectations. So within only three months, they decided to open the second concept store, which will be opened today at Musea. we will explore other cooperation opportunities with other K11 malls. This is a good example to show that our K11 mall cooperating with our brand to create value and there is synergy to attract our customers. Apart from existing malls, we will actually bring our successful model and brand of K11 to other newly completed projects. This year, there are a few large-scale investment projects that will operate in phases. Well, at the end of this year, there will be a mainland project that will be opened, K11 Eco St. Shenzhen Prince Bay. It is the first K11 flagship project in PRC. It will be one of the biggest malls in Shenzhen. Right now, pre-lease rates... is more than 50% already. For the park by K11 Select in Ningbo, two days later, there will be soft opening. At that time, Within Ningbo and Pearl River Delta business circle, it is going to be a new landmark. Pre-lease rate is already more than 60%. And then there will be the first quesadilla in Greater China in end July to early September. That was soft opening. In Q2 next year, they will start formal operation. Then let me talk about sale of our non-core assets. As said earlier, non-core disposal all along has been another important tool of deleveraging. When we announced interim results, The target for FY24 was adjusted upward from $6 billion to $8 billion, and this year we successfully achieved this target. Main NCD includes Deepak, which was announced earlier, $4 billion Hong Kong dollars, disposal of Tianhai, Chow Tai Fook Financial Building, North Tower, remaining 30% equity to Chow Tai Fook Group. We have recovered $1.5 billion, and then The money will come into our account or had come into our account in August already. At appropriate times, we will sell non-core assets. There are more NCD projects. In the FY25, NCD will amount to... $13 billion. And then altogether, we have already completed $3.8 billion of NCD for farmland. Apart from NCD, we will develop our farmland resources. They will bring quite significant cash flow to us. At the northern metropolis, we own a large amount of farmland. Farmland conversion can effectively lower average cost of land and related capex, and it can release their value and enhance their value. For monetization of farmland, we are using different ways to achieve that. For example, we will set up JV with different SOEs and central enterprises and sell directly. Then the government can buy such farmland. In December last year, China Resources Land signed with us the first cooperation agreement for the northern metropolis. So together we will develop the Yunlong South residential project with total land area of 150,000 square feet and GFA will amount to 720,000 square feet offering 1,800 units. The project was approved by Buildings Department in June this year. Two 23-storey residential buildings can be built with GFA of 280,000 square feet. And then we have signed a cooperation agreement with China Merchants Shell Co. in sometime earlier. So we will develop the Fenling North development project. And in May, we will build, we got the approval from buildings department to build four residential buildings with area of around 1.12 million square feet, offering no less than 2,000 units. In May, we signed MOU with Sham Yip Holdings. Together, we looked into development of the northern region In the future, we'll continue to monetize farmland resources to release their value. And then for corporate actions, all along we have been active to discuss with potential investors. to use different ways to take corporate actions. We hope to expedite the release of good quality assets and enhance value so that we can accelerate deleveraging. At appropriate times, we will announce to you our progress. And then for optimizing our capital, In the past four years, CapEx has been declining. In 2024, CapEx, we only spent HK$14.8 billion, down 23% year-on-year. In 2025, CapEx estimate is lower than HK$15 billion. We'll continue to strictly control our CapEx. When our large-scale IP projects are largely completed, IP-related construction expenses will greatly decrease. for lowering of OPEX. Now, we optimize our structure. So in 2024, our G&A was $4.2 billion, down 17% year-on-year. Our staff cost was $4.2 billion, down 14% year-on-year. We saved operating expenses by streamlining our functional departments, reorganizing our structure, and then we also put in place stringent hiring policy, and we significantly reduced in-house IT and operating costs. We'll continue to optimize our company's procedures and processes to improve operating efficiency. This year, our results are mainly affected by changes in fair value in non-cash terms. And as a result of these adjustments, we're able to become lighter on our journey. This will help profit growth. But then this year, there was loss attributable to shareholders, so we decided to temporarily halt dividend payment. In the future, if earnings improve, we will reconsider dividend payment. We believe prudent treasury management can accelerate the leveraging and the capital saved can bring more flexibility to our company. Given our earnings, our chairman, Dr. Henry Cheung, and also Mr. Chiang and so on, they willingly reduced their salary by 30%. So this will come into play on 1st October 2024. Now Edward can talk about financials now. Okay, now let me talk about our financial or treasury management progress. We continue to maintain diversified funding channels in January till now. We have already completed more than HK$50 billion loans and debt repayment. For offshore bank loans, with 60 banks, we maintain close communication. At the end of August, we announced the renewal to insider information update, and in September, we completed a HK$5 billion loan and we just signed an unsecured loan for HK$1 billion. So we'll continue to enjoy low-cost offshore bank loans. Average interest rate is high, plus around 1.1% to 1.2%. Number two, onshore loans. In the first half of the year, the mainland relaxed regulation of operation loans. So this year, we completed a few long-term low-interest operation loan of 5.8 billion RMB with tenor of 10 to 15 years. Average loan cost was only 3.1%. And then ECHO just now said that this Today, there was policy made by Politburo. On the 24th, there were measures to support finance. And then there would be more lending resources for whitelist companies, so this will be beneficial to our group. And then for offshore loans in July, we successfully issued a 3.5-year, 400 million USD bond. So we are the first Hong Kong property developer issuing a US dollar bond. Since June 2022, we have attracted more than 100 investors. Subscription reached very high level 3.75 times over subscription so a solid reception with peak demand of us 1.5 billion we are effectively managing our financing costs and also maintaining our sound financial position let me talk about the leveraging we strive to lower debt especially our interest expenses So here you can see that for debt reduction we have made good results and successfully we have extended our debt maturity. In August we bought back HK$1.2 billion bond and perpetuals. In the future, based on the circumstances, we will go on our debt management. We will strive to do deleveraging and optimize our maturity profile as of end of June 2024, our group's total liabilities was $151.6 billion. Comparing with June 2023, when it was $164.1 billion, we are down $12.4 billion. For short-term loans, we reduced $6 billion. Long-term debts, it decreased $6.4 billion. In end of June 2024, total deaths 151.6 billion. 47.6 billion was short-term loan. We have already handled half of the refinancing or repayment. As of end June 2024, we have available capital resources, more than the debt that will mature in FY25. For 46.3 billion Hong Kong dollar available cash resources, there is 28 billion Hong Kong dollars cash and bank balance, undrawn lines, 18.3 billion Hong Kong dollars. Hibor in FY24 rose significantly by 1.7 percentage points, In FY24, our average financing cost was only higher than FY23 by 1.1 percentage points. So in FY24, it is at around 5%. In the future, when the US and Hong Kong continue to cut rates, and also with our treasury management, we expect that financing costs will continue to come down. In FY25, average costs will be lower than 5%. So now I will pass the floor back to Patrick. Okay, thank you, management, for your presentation. Now, it is time for Q&A. Because we have already received many questions and we have already done some classification, the management will answer the questions one by one. Okay, first question. This time there is key personnel change. Is it because in the past few years there was some problem with your results? Is it true that by personnel change you can turn over the group's development direction and earnings situation? Well, just now Dr. Adrian Zhang already explained a few weeks ago Our group received Dr. Adrian Zhang's notice that starting from today, he will resign from the position of executive vice chairman and CEO, and he will now become non-executive vice chairman. His goal is clear. He will devote more time to public work and public office to serve Hong Kong and the general public. Now, our chairman, Dr. Henry Zhang, supports his decision. And we also thank Dr. Adrian Zhang for his contribution to the group in the past. We support him and we wish him all the best in the future. in the future for our group's direction well our pathway is very clear we will continue to focus on our core property business will be more market oriented and we want to enhance the return on our projects now both the us and hong kong have entered rate cut cycle this is a good sign besides it is also a good start for a reversal of the Hong Kong economy. I believe our group's results will continue to improve. Next question. The group's financial situation is of concern to many people, so cash flow has come down. profit decrease, and then you do a temporary halt to dividend. So now, as CEO, Mr. Ma, what measures do you have? Our financial position is very stable. From January to today, we have completed refinancing and loan repayment of $51 billion, and in September, we completed $5 billion loan. So you can see that banks do support us, and our group's liquidity is very healthy. available capital resources are more than our financing need for FY 2025 to repay loans. We have made use of different ways to optimize our financial position, including expanding revenue, cutting costs, strict control of CAPEX and OPEX, disposal of non-core assets so that we can expedite the leveraging. Okay, next question. Now, some time ago, the group promised that there won't be rice issue. Will that be a change in this plan? Will the majority shareholder consider injecting funds or share buyback? As I said just now, the group's financial position is very sound. Our liquidity is very healthy. So we promise that there won't be the need for rice issue. Besides, we'll continue all the measures to expand revenue and cut expenses. And our target about NCD... is increased to $13 billion for the whole year. We'll use different ways to release our assets and value of farmland. When there are any actions to be taken, we will announce in due course. And we will look at the overall market situation, and we will not rule out the possibility of ways to enhance long-term return to our shareholders and investors. Next question. This time you do a temporary hold to payment of final dividend. When will you resume dividend payments? As said just now, our group will monitor the macro market situation and our earnings in determining our dividend level. This time we will do a temporary hold to dividend payments. This is a two-pronged approach. In the long run, this can enhance our earnings. At the same time, it is an important move to expedite deleveraging. When earnings improve, we will reconsider resumption of dividend. Next question. The group's development direction and operation strategies, will they change? Our group is a very sound company. So all along, we... insist on our prudence and pragmatic corporate direction. So in the future, we'll focus on our core property business and be more market-oriented and enhance return for our projects. In this way, we can maximize shareholder return. Right now, for our projects, our products, and our brand, Well, we have a very good brand effect in the market. This is our strength. In the future, we will give full play to this strength so as to strive for better results. Okay, next question. Why do you want to outsource K11 Mall and office buildings to Mr. Zhang? And will that be a change in K11's future development? What would be the good point for New World by doing this? Now, let me explain. K11 is still an asset and brand under the New World Development Group. Our group is still the asset owner of K11 Mall and office buildings. Looking at the results, K11 cultural business model is a very successful one. In the past five years, despite the big challenges in the retail environment, K11 profits enjoyed 10% CAGR growth. And you can see seven global luxurious brands. will open new stores in K-11 museum or expand their storefronts. This is a very positive message that reflects that this cultural business circle model is very successful. From business point of view, property company and landlord or landlord outsourcing property management outsourcing some business to professional company this is a main trend this is done by many hotel groups in terms of operating expenses and management things will be more efficient and the management company and the landlord share the same goal that is to enhance return of the project this is a win-win arrangement dr adrian jang will set up a new company he will become or this company will become an operation company for K11 Mall and K11 Atelier office. So he will do leasing, brand management, marketing, and also other strategic management service. For property management and frontline service, it will still be provided by New World. The current arrangement will not change. We hope that other K11 projects will continue to deliver good quality service and there will be closer cooperation with other related brands so as to enhance value of the K11 brand. For the group, this approach can save cost and it can streamline our structure and in turn can improve our rate of return. Thank you. Next question is about the mainland. Now, the Chinese Politburo this morning had a meeting. They wanted to boost the property market so that it will stop decline. And some time ago, the state announced some policies in the finance field to support high-quality development of the property market. So what will be the impact on the mainland property industry? Okay, let me answer this question. Okay, I believe that on these two days, you saw that there were very intensive support for the property market. Two days ago, on the 24th of September, the three top leaders, the three top giants of our country, PBOC, CSRC, and the Financial Management Bureau, stood out to support the property market. Some important policies were formulated, for example, RRR cut, interest rate cut, mortgage loan cut, mortgage lending rate cut, and also lowering burden for property buyers, down payment lower to 15 percent, and also extension of the 16 financial measures, and so on. So all these will give precise help to the property market. especially this morning during the Politburo meeting. It is chaired by President Xi, and it's very clearly, precisely, gave support to the property market, private economy, and employment. So there is precise policy support. So I believe with this policy support, where it is even more specific, there are administrative relaxation of purchase restriction, RRR and interest rate cuts, and also destocking, revitalized idle land, and also mortgage lending rate cuts. and also more lending resources for whitelist. So all these are effective and targeted. So for buyers and developers, they are very favourable. Since I have been in this industry for such a long time, I think this is really historical, no matter whether we talk about finance or political support for the property market. Today, if you look at the Politburo meeting, apart from the property sector, there is the private economy, legislation, well, lawmaking will be expedited. There will be more support for people's livelihood as well as employment. So very soon, that will be the golden week, and I'm sure there will be a boosting effect. Actual implementation of policies and also market response I think we will see the release of all policies within one month's time. So today, for mainland property sector, that would be a strong boost. If you look at the Asia market, it went back up to 3,000 points immediately. So to us, I think... we have strong confidence to improve our mainland business thank you miss wong next question regarding mainland property markets favorable policies this year in terms of project launch what would be your development strategy well in the past we benefited from our forward-looking layout many years ago we actually turned our Tier 2, Tier 3 property development and shifted it to Yangtze River Delta and GBA Tier 1 regions, core assets. Given this economic environment, I believe that this core risk-withstanding ability is better than the other peers. Besides, New World China has been adhering to high-quality development on the mainland. No matter whether we talk about our brand, our design, Our design positioning, our property management, New World brand is better than our peers. So I believe that our sales, well, in the past, all along, has been strong. Then our profit margin is very high as well. Now, for mainland business, in China, In the past, in FY2024, which was very difficult, we achieved 12.5 billion RMB contracted sales, which was 85% of the whole-year target. This is much more superior than our peers. In 2024, our main sales highlights include Guangzhou CBD project, Yousheng New World, with contracted sales of 3.6 billion RMB, it is number one in sales in Guangzhou at the same time. In Shenyang New World, well, this has been developed for many years, and we exceeded 1.4 billion RMB. And at the same time, in that region, it is also number one in sales. This year, for our launch plan, It includes Yuxing New World, Lingnan New World, and also the newly-launched Guangzhou The Silage, Hoi Yat-Wan. And then there is Shenyang New World, mainland sales work. Together with NCD work, in the future, in FY 2025, China mainland DP contractor sales would reach 11 billion RMB, roughly. Another point is our future developments regarding land bank in the past. Well, at present, our land bank on the mainland amounts to 3.7 million square meter. Sixty percent is in Yangtze River Delta and GBA. main area. In the coming three years, there will be 1.6 million square meter of urban renewal projects, mainly in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. So in terms of land price and other costs, we enjoy advantage. Good quality land resources can support our future stable development. Thank you. Next question is about this year and next year. In terms of IPs on the mainland, what will be your layout? We have a few key major projects, especially IP development, which will emerge on the mainland. On 28 September, Ningbo, the park by K11 Select, will be opened. And actually, the opening rate exceeded 65 percent. This is a flagship business in Yangtze River Delta. So on this project, Well, it combines traveling or tourism, entertainment, brands, culture, sales, and also community culture. So in total, 140,000 square meter. It is the last phase, phase three of Ningbo project. It will be completed. For the Ningbo project, 900,000 square meter will be completed at last. If you have the opportunity to go to Ningbo, you can take a look and you will see that it is like a small Hong Kong in Ningbo. So for our offices, our residential buildings and our commercial, well, in that region, it is the largest comprehensive units or complex. Very soon, there will be the Guangzhou using New World project. So apart from the sold residential units that will be delivered, next year or at the end of this year, our offices will be delivered for occupation. Right now, leasing and sales of the offices are good. Next year, K11 Select will see the second K11 in Guangzhou. It will be delivered soon for release or pre-lease our result about pre-lease has been quite good. And then in Shenzhen, we fully enjoyed the beginning. So for K11 Ecos, it will come soon with 230,000 square metres. Pre-lease is very satisfactory now. For Qianhai Chaotai Financial Building, at the end of last year, it was fully occupied. Now, occupancy, it was fully in use, so occupancy rate is good, reaching above 65%. In the future, we look forward to more IP projects on the mainland. They will be launched, and then they will bring stable long-term rental income to us. Okay, next question. Some time ago, after the insider info update, Is there any change in the bank's attitude to your company? Eric, thank you. Well, all the banks have been supporting our group very strongly. Since the end of August, after the insider info update, we have completed a HK$5 billion loan. We just signed a HK$1 billion unsecured loan. Next question, regarding impairments. Regarding impairments, I would like more details. For example, types of assets, in which district, whether the cap rate has been adjusted. This time the impairment involves a comprehensive assessment involving DPs, IPs. and many other assets. For district distribution, we did the impairment both in Hong Kong and the mainland. For overall cap rates, comparing with the previous FY, it has been tightened or it is now higher. In the future, based on market circumstances and accounting standards, we will adjust our asset valuation at appropriate times. Next question is about Hong Kong impairments. Hong Kong banks follow the U.S. to cut rates. What is the actual impact on your group and the overall property industry? What do you see will be the property outlook in Hong Kong? Well, U.S. rate cut has been much looked forward to. This means that we have started the rate cut cycle. Hong Kong followed suit immediately. So for our group and the whole industry, to a different extent, there is help. For DPs... As you can see, market confidence will improve with rate cuts. Overall turnover can increase, hopefully. And this year, in the second half, property price will be stable, and we will seize the opportunity to accelerate new project sales. In the coming year, we will launch 4,400 units. For IPs, when investors... have more confidence in consumption, brands are willing to do more expansion. And this will stimulate our mall's retail performance. We have a few large-scale IP projects that will start operation gradually. So they will drive our recurring revenue for NCDs, So for property assets, you can see that now interest rate is lower. So they will become more attractive. And so more high-priced property transactions will be driven. We will do more to release our assets. We have now 15 million square feet of farmland reserve. And in 2025, our NCD target will be increased to HK$13 billion. For financing costs and interest expenses, well, both will come down as a result. Some time ago, we took the initiative to make impairment and adjust the fair value. These are non-cash accounting arrangements so that we can proceed with our journey in a light way. For future profit growth and deleveraging pays, well, it will be helpful. Next question. In the future, can you tell us your... of new project launch. And in the Hong Kong property market, there are inventory of 20,000 units. So do you still have confidence? No, we are in the rate cut cycle. We'll expedite project launch. We have Wang Chuk Hang Phase 5, State Theatre Project, Mid-Levels Weising Road, and the Kai Tech Project. We will launch the 4,400 units as soon as possible. In Hong Kong, the rate cut cycle has started. If you look at the leasing market it is very active and rental has been rising this shows that for high quality residential units there is still demand in the market in hong kong unemployment rate is low our economy is still growing these can support our property market under the rica cycle we hope that property market sentiment can be stimulated so that there will be higher turnover We believe that this year, property price will be stable. So this year, we have set our sales target, DP contracted sales target, at HK$6 billion. Next question. There is market rumour that your group will sell K11 Artmore. Is that true? From time to time, we received inquiries and proposals from different commercial organizations. We will not comment or respond to any market news or rumor. So this has been our usual approach. Next question is about layoff. With key personnel change, will New World lay off employees? In the past few years, the macroeconomy was not satisfactory. And... On different fronts, the group has done work to expand revenue and cut expenses. Our administrative expenses is now lower by 17% year-on-year. CapEx was down 23%. Employees are our valuable resources. We do not have large-scale layoff plan. And in accordance with our future work, we'll continue to optimize our procedures and streamline our processes. When market changes, we will also change our structure accordingly. Last question. Now, for your state theater conservation project and also the Build for Good project with the government, given the personnel change, will there be change afterwards? Well, the projects are still underway according to plan. So if there are any details, we will announce later in due course. Well, thank you, everyone, for joining New World Development's FY 2024 Annual Results Presentation Analysts' Briefing. Thank you very much.