Zhaoshang Shekou's "Template" in the Stock Era: @E861@ Billion Balance Sheet Backing Steady Progress Through Three Core Business Synergies

AI Inquiry · Policy Shift Toward Quality Housing: How China Merchants Shekou Leads Industry Transformation

China’s real estate sector is feeling a different atmosphere this spring. With the 2026 government work report setting the main tone of “focusing on stabilizing the real estate market” for the year, industry policies are shifting from the stage of clearing existing risks centered on “ensuring delivery and preventing risks” to a new cycle of value creation and structural optimization driven by “quality housing and new models.”

Against this backdrop, China Merchants Shekou (001979.SZ), with its prudent business strategy and forward-looking strategic layout, has delivered a resilient and transformative performance. The annual report released on March 16 shows the company achieved operating revenue of 154.728 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.024 billion yuan during the period; the full-year signed sales amount reached 196.009 billion yuan, ranking fourth in the industry. Facing complex external environments, the company not only stabilized its core development business but also made significant breakthroughs in asset operation, property services, and financial stability, continuing to lead the high-quality transformation of the real estate industry.

Stability First, Demonstrating Resilience Through Cycles

In the context of deep industry adjustments, prudent management has become the core competitiveness for real estate companies to navigate cycles. In 2025, China Merchants Shekou adhered to cautious financial principles, building a comprehensive risk prevention system. Its “three red lines” remained in the green zone for the long term, with asset-liability ratio excluding pre-received accounts at 64.17%, net debt ratio at 72.46%, and cash short-term debt ratio at 1.19. Core financial indicators consistently ranked among the best in the industry, serving as a “ballast” for market confidence.

On the capital operation front, leveraging the credit advantages of central enterprises, the company has built a diversified, low-cost financing system. Its overall funding cost at year-end dropped to 2.74%, down 25 basis points from the beginning of the year, among the lowest in the industry; it fully repaid 12 billion yuan of perpetual bonds and issued 14.1 billion yuan in operational property loans, continuously optimizing its debt structure. By the end of 2025, the company’s cash and cash equivalents reached 86.127 billion yuan, with a net cash flow from operating activities of 9.693 billion yuan, providing solid support for business transformation and steady growth.

Simultaneously, in line with the release of the financial report, China Merchants Shekou announced that the company and its subsidiaries plan to use up to 10 billion yuan of temporarily idle proprietary funds to conduct entrusted wealth management with non-招商银行 financial institutions. These investments focus on high-security, liquid, and relatively attractive return financial products, sourced from temporarily idle funds of the company and subsidiaries, balancing safety and yield.

In terms of performance, despite industry challenges such as declining project transfer scales and fluctuating investment returns, China Merchants Shekou achieved operating revenue of 154.728 billion yuan and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.024 billion yuan for the full year, maintaining a stable scale and profitability amid industry pressure. Regionally, the company focused on core cities, with revenue in northern regions increasing by 10.44% year-on-year, demonstrating the resilience of key urban clusters and highlighting the unique advantages of central enterprises navigating industry cycles.

With continued policy support in 2025, China Merchants Shekou precisely grasped the “stabilize real estate” policy direction, strictly implementing the “sales-driven investment and production” strategy. The company successfully acquired 43 high-quality land parcels, with nearly 90% of investments concentrated in 10 core cities, including 63% in first-tier cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing, securing quality resources for sustainable development.

The recently discussed “Document No. 38” aligns closely with China Merchants Shekou’s development direction, which holds substantial core regional resources, potentially further strengthening its competitive barriers. The document emphasizes: “New construction land should prioritize major projects and public welfare development, generally not used for commercial real estate development.” This signals a shift from expanding land supply to activating existing stock and optimizing structure, marking a new phase of quality improvement in the industry.

Synergistic Growth: Three Main Business Areas Advancing Together

Focusing on the three core sectors—development, asset operation, and property services—China Merchants Shekou continues to deepen the implementation of its “133341” strategy, transforming from “each sector operating independently” to “collaborative win-win,” building a full industry chain ecosystem of quality development, value-added operation, and expanded services, opening new growth trajectories amid industry transformation.

As the company’s core foundation, its development business adheres to national standards for “quality housing,” creating the industry’s first comprehensive technical system aligned with “safety, comfort, green, and smart” requirements. This system covers seven dimensions, 28 modules, and 485 technical details, with over 20 benchmark projects achieving large-scale implementation, earning industry honors such as “Top 3 China Good Housing Companies” and “Top 4 Product Strength.”

Strong product capabilities support impressive sales results. In 2025, the company achieved signed sales of 196.009 billion yuan and a sales area of 7.1612 million square meters, ranking fourth in the industry, with sales in key cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Chengdu entering the top three locally. Meanwhile, its construction agency business remains industry leader, with 80 new projects, a contracted area of 11.39 million square meters, and contract revenue exceeding 800 million yuan; to date, it has undertaken over 620 projects, totaling more than 35 million square meters, maintaining a top 10 industry position.

Asset operation continues to enhance all formats, with property management revenue reaching 7.63 billion yuan in 2025, up 2.2% year-on-year. The six major formats—commercial, apartments, industrial parks, hotels, exhibitions, and cruises—work synergistically, with 29 new projects totaling 1.77 million square meters of gross floor area and 828,000 square meters of light-asset management added. Occupancy rates remain high: over 93% for commercial centers open more than three years, 93% for boutique apartments, and 88% for industrial parks.

Notably, China Merchants Shekou leverages public REITs to connect the entire “investment-finance-construction-management-exit” chain, launching BoShi Shekou Industrial Park REIT to unlock asset value. The company also seizes new opportunities in emerging productive forces, developing low-altitude economy projects like the Qianhai-Shekou Low-Altitude Economic Pilot Zone, attracting high-quality enterprises such as zero-gravity aircraft manufacturers; its cruise and exhibition businesses grew against the trend, serving 4.198 million travelers and hosting over 7 million square meters of exhibitions, becoming new growth engines.

Its subsidiary, China Merchants Property Services, adheres to the “light, large-scale, tech-driven” development route, achieving revenue of 19.273 billion yuan in 2025, up 12.23%. It manages over 24,730 projects covering 377 million square meters, ranking among China’s top three comprehensive property service providers. Market expansion is notable: third-party contracts signed in 2025 totaled 4.169 billion yuan, up 13%, with non-residential sectors like aviation, universities, and IFM growing over 15%, and residential contracts increasing 60%, achieving independent, high-quality development free from reliance on parent company.

Embracing Innovation, Planning for Long-Term Growth

In response to the 2026 trend of “stabilization and model restructuring” in the real estate industry, China Merchants Shekou, guided by its “14th Five-Year” strategic plan, is committed to three major transformations: shifting from primarily development to balanced development of development and operation, integrating heavy and light assets, and moving from homogeneous competition to differentiated development. The company accelerates toward a “developer + operator + service provider” integrated transformation.

To inject new momentum, the company emphasizes digital intelligence and green development. In digitalization, AI technology is deeply integrated into core scenarios such as marketing, property management, and customer research, with AI property work order assistants improving efficiency by 90%, and smart badges boosting on-site customer engagement by 30-70%. It has also developed native HarmonyOS apps like “JiYu Services” and “JiYu Travel,” capturing domestic system ecosystems. In green development, the company leads the industry, with 2.344 million square meters of prefabricated buildings added, accounting for 92.3%; 35 green building certifications obtained, and maintaining MSCI ESG rating at A, the highest in the A-share real estate sector.

In regional development and urban-industrial integration, China Merchants Shekou continues to upgrade its layout, demonstrating central enterprise responsibility. Relying on 47 years of experience in Shekou’s development, it adopts an “港区城” (port area city) integrated model, planning to start the Shekou district upgrade in 2026 to create a new emblem of reform and opening-up. It also actively develops strategic regions like the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Hainan Free Trade Zone, holding substantial land resources in core areas such as Qianhai and Taiziwan, with land value steadily releasing.

Upholding the philosophy of shared responsibility and value, the company continuously improves its market value management and valuation enhancement systems, implementing the “dual improvement of quality and returns” initiative. Its 2025 profit distribution plan proposes a dividend of 0.511 yuan per 10 shares. In social responsibility, China Merchants C Star Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program was selected for the “China-Africa Cultural Exchange Year” flagship event, demonstrating the central enterprise’s mission and responsibility.

Based on previous earnings forecasts, multiple brokerages have expressed optimistic views on its prospects. Dongwu Securities noted that, amid policy support and gradually balanced supply-demand, as a leading central enterprise in real estate, China Merchants Shekou benefits from its resource advantages and solid credit, maintaining steady investment and sales, and is likely to benefit early from industry stabilization and recovery.