First Quarter 2012 Results
"Although the overall sentiment of China's real estate market remains subdued, reflected by low transaction volume in the first quarter, recent market transaction data has been slightly better than our expectation at the beginning of the year. While we do not expect the government to change its restrictive real estate policies in the near future, there are reasons to believe that the real estate market has passed the low point for the year. Moreover, we expect developers will continue to be willing to cut prices in exchange for transaction volumes," commented Xin Zhou, E-House's co-chairman and CEO.
"To better meet the demand of our clients in this challenging real estate environment, we integrated our online advertising, online e-commerce transactions and offline on-site sales support services, and successfully tested our performance-based e-commerce revenue model in the first quarter," continued Mr. Zhou. "We believe results-oriented advertising, channel-focused marketing and online-to-offline integrated services are the future of China's real estate service industry. Now that we have completed our merger with CRIC, our new corporate and operational structure will help us take full advantage of those trends."
Bin Laurence, E-House's CFO, added, "With the completion of our merger with CRIC and the infrastructure of our platforms mostly in place, we are now focusing more on internal cost control. First quarter selling, general and administrative expenses showed a substantial sequential decline compared with the fourth quarter of last year, partly due to reduced merger-related professional expenses and specific marketing expenses, as well as a result of internal cost control. We will continue our cost control efforts in the next few quarters."
Business Outlook
The Company maintains its previous revenue estimate range of $490 million to $510 million for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2012, which represents an increase of 22% to 27% from $401.6 million in 2011. This forecast reflects the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.
SHANGHAI, April 23, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- E-House (China) Holdings Limited ("E-House" or the "Company") (NYSE: EJ), a leading real estate services company in China, today announced the completion of the merger with China Real Estate Information Corporation ("CRIC") (NASDAQ: CRIC). As a result of the merger, CRIC has become a wholly owned subsidiary of E-House.
E-House also announced the following board and management changes, all of which became effective upon completion of the merger: Full release
Fourth Quarter 2011 Financial and Operating Highlights
Mr. Zhou continued, "We believe that E-House is well positioned to withstand this challenging period for the real estate services industry. For 2012, we will continue to focus on our three major business lines: primary agency, information and consulting, and online services. With the infrastructure for our new business initiatives largely set up, we will focus more on cost control this year. We will continue to leverage the comprehensive online-to-offline ("O2O") service platform rolled out last year to further boost our online services segment. Also, as part of our strategy to push further into the secondary real estate market at the most opportune time, we will leverage our resources to launch a new online secondary brokerage franchise platform that combines online and offline information, as well as real and virtual brokerage stores. The platform will also allow cross-selling opportunities between new and secondary real estate. Despite the challenges we face in the current market, we remain confident in our business strategies as well as in the future of the industry."
Mr. Li-Lan Cheng, E-House's chief financial officer, added, "For our primary agency business, the overall sell-through rate was low in the fourth quarter, which had traditionally been a peak selling period. In addition, our real estate consulting and online business segments, which are operated by CRIC, also showed signs of slowing down as developers began to cut back on land purchases, new project developments and advertising spending. Currently, we do not expect these conditions to improve substantially in the near term, given the government's repeated statements promising continued restrictive policies for the industry. Our results in the fourth quarter were also negatively impacted by higher marketing expenses associated with our efforts to market our new integrated service platform to developers, as well as additional expenses related to our planned merger with CRIC."
The Company estimates that its revenues for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2012 will be in the range of$490 million to $510 million, an increase of 22% to 27% from $401.6 million in 2011. This forecast reflects the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.
SHANGHAI, December 28, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- E-House (China) Holdings Limited ("E-House" or the "Company") (NYSE: EJ), a leading real estate services company in China, today announced that it has entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated December 28, 2011 (the "Merger Agreement") with China Real Estate Information Corporation ("CRIC") (NASDAQ: CRIC) and CRIC (China) Holdings Limited ("Merger Sub"). Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, E-House will acquire through a merger all the outstanding shares of CRIC that are not owned by E-House (the "Transaction") for a fixed consideration consisting of $1.75cash and 0.6 E-House shares / American depositary shares ("ADSs") for each CRIC share. E-House increased the cash portion of the consideration to $1.75 from the $1.60 initially proposed to the board of directors of CRIC and publicly announced on October 28, 2011.
Under the proposed transaction, Century 21 China Real Estate will issue approximately 960 million new Class A ordinary shares to E-House and the founders of Century 21 China Real Estate at $0.0267 per share ($0.40 per American depositary share ("ADS")). The total number of new shares issued will represent approximately 57.8% of Century 21 China Real Estate's post-issuance enlarged share capital on a fully diluted basis. Century 21 China Real Estate will receive an aggregate consideration of approximately $25 million. Upon closing of the proposed transaction, E-House will become Century 21 China Real Estate's largest shareholder with a 37.3% ownership stake on a fully diluted basis. Century 21 China Real Estate's founders will have an additional 20.5% equity share on a fully diluted basis, with their purchase of new shares being financed by E-House. The final shareholding split between E-House and Century 21 China Real Estate's founders is subject to minor adjustments prior to the closing of the proposed transaction.
"We are very excited about the opportunity to make a strategic investment in Century 21 China Real Estate," said Mr. Xin Zhou, E-House's executive chairman. "Century 21 China Real Estate is a leading brand and operator in China's secondary real estate brokerage sector with national coverage and a top level management team. Although China's real estate industry currently faces unprecedented challenges and the operating environment for the secondary real estate brokerage sector is particularly difficult, this cooperation will help Century 21 China Real Estate not only strengthen its financial conditions to weather the near-term challenge, but also enhance its market leading position. At the same time, E-House will gain a valuable distribution channel that will augment our comprehensive sales and marketing services for developers. More importantly, our two companies will join hands to push for a fundamental change in the way secondary real estate brokerage is done in China and create a profitable and sustainable business model. Although the proposed transaction will negatively impact E-House's earnings in the near term given Century 21 China Real Estate's losses, we believe this is an attractive investment opportunity and are confident in Century 21 China Real Estate's management team to turn around its business and improve its operating results."
Third Quarter 2011 Results
"The challenging conditions for the real estate industry in China continued in the third quarter," said Mr. Xin Zhou, E-House's executive chairman. "While we were able to achieve growth in our primary agency business in terms of total GFA and value of new homes sold, the average sell-through rates for most of our projects remained low. Since the beginning of the fourth quarter, market sentiment has weakened further, with total transaction volume for October down as much as 50% year on year in tier-one cities, where moderate price discounts have failed to generate meaningful volume increases. Furthermore, our consulting and online business, which had maintained healthy growth in the first three quarters of this year and shown resilience against short-term industry fluctuations, started to slow down in the fourth quarter as developers cut back on land purchases and early-stage project preparation and reduced advertising spending when they didn't see prospects of strong volume rebound in the near term."
Mr. Li-Lan Cheng, E-House's chief financial officer, added, "In addition to challenging market conditions, our results in the third quarter were negatively impacted by goodwill impairment loss related to our online business, which we acquired in 2009, and unrealized loss from short-term investments in marketable securities. We expect market conditions in the fourth quarter to worsen with potentially a sequential decline in total transaction volume, despite the fourth quarter traditionally being the peak season for real estate transactions. Additionally, as we discussed earlier this year, the delay in our revenue recognition as a result of tight credit supply has continued and will negatively impact our results."
The Company estimates that its revenues for the fourth quarter of 2011 will be in the range of $102 million to $104 million, compared to $125.2 million in the same quarter in 2010. This forecast reflects the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.
Second Quarter 2011 Results
"I'm pleased that we continued to achieve growth in the scale of our primary real estate agency business despite weak market sentiment and low overall transaction volume," said Mr. Xin Zhou, E-House's executive chairman. "During the second quarter, our strong project execution led to strong buyer interest and sales volume for many of our projects. However, as the Chinese central bank continued its credit tightening, commercial banks in China have further slowed down approvals of new mortgage loans. This has resulted in ongoing delays in our ability to recognize successful sales and commission revenue for a number of projects for which a 'successful sale' is defined as when the bank releases mortgage loan proceeds. This has negatively impacted our primary agency revenue for the second quarter and may continue to negatively affect our revenue for the second half of 2011."
Mr. Zhou continued, "In light of the unfavorable market environment, we will continue to expand our reach in new markets in order to diversify our geographic and client mix. We managed to increase our secondary brokerage business revenue during tough market conditions while also reducing costs and expenses. Meanwhile, our online business segment continues to show robust revenue growth, taking advantage of developers' increased efforts to market their products. As previously announced, we have also expanded our cooperation with Baidu, which grants our subsidiary CRIC the exclusive right to sell Baidu's Brand Link advertising products."
Mr. Li-Lan Cheng, E-House's chief financial officer, added, "During the second quarter, we continued to operate in challenging market conditions. The expansion of our primary agency business has led to increases in our staff headcount and related expenses, while rising inflation and wage levels have resulted in higher salaries for our employees. We also experienced a slower sell-through rate for the majority of our projects and a year-on-year decrease in the average commission rate, which has stabilized at about 0.9% this year. These factors have resulted in relatively flat revenue growth for our primary agency business and have negatively impacted our margins. Although we expect the challenging macro environment will continue to pressure our profit margins in the near term, we firmly believe the continued expansion of our business will deliver long-term benefits to the Company and our shareholders."
The Company estimates that its revenues for the third quarter of 2011 will be in the range of $108 million to $110 million, an increase of 22% to 24% from $88.6 million in the same quarter in 2010. This forecast reflects the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.
First Quarter Results:
"Following the government's announcement of aggressive tightening measures in January 2011, the real estate market in Chinaexperienced a sharp reduction in transaction volume during the first quarter," said Mr. Xin Zhou, E-House's executive chairman. "In light of this, I am pleased that we still achieved year-on-year increases in the total GFA and value of new properties sold. However, we expect market sentiment and transaction volume to remain subdued in the near term as the government continues to implement and enforce restrictive measures aimed at discouraging purchases of residential real estate. Moreover, as credit supply became more restricted as a result of tighter monetary policy by the Chinese central bank, commercial banks in Chinahave slowed down approvals of new mortgage loans. This has led to a delay in our ability to complete sales for a number of projects for which a 'successful sale' is defined as when the bank releases mortgage loan proceeds. This will negatively impact our primary agency revenue for the second quarter."
The Company estimates that its revenues for the second quarter of 2011 will be in the range of $84 million to $86 million, an increase of 18% to 21% from $71.2 million in the same quarter in 2010. This forecast reflects the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.
SHANGHAI, March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- E-House (China) Holdings Limited today announced that its board of directors has approved a share repurchase program.
E-House has been authorized, but not obligated, by its board of directors to repurchase up to US$50 million worth of its own American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") within one year upon receiving such authorization. The repurchases will be made from time to time on the open market at prevailing market prices pursuant to a 10b5-1 plan (which allows E-House to repurchase its ADSs pursuant to the pre-determined terms under the plan at any time, including periods in which it may be in possession of material non-public information), in negotiated transactions off the market, in block trades or otherwise. The timing and extent of any purchases will depend upon market conditions, the trading price of ADSs and other factors, and subject to the restrictions relating to volume, price and timing under applicable law. E-House expects to implement this share repurchase program in a manner consistent with market conditions and the interests of the shareholders. E-House's board of directors will review the share repurchase program periodically, and may authorize adjustment of its terms and size accordingly. E-House plans to fund repurchases made under this program from its available cash balance.
Third Quarter 2010 Financial and Operating Highlights
"I am pleased with E-House's performance during the third quarter," said Mr. Gordon Zang, E-House's acting chief executive officer. "Leveraging our strong project pipeline and increased market share, we were able to achieve substantially higher transaction volume for our primary real estate agency business in the third quarter than in the second quarter, and came close to reaching the level we achieved in the third quarter of 2009 at the peak of a very active market. A highlight of the third quarter was our successful launch of the Guangzhou Asian Games Village project, a landmark residential project jointly developed by five leading developers. This project represents our first major project in Guangdong Province and helps establish our presence in Southern China, a strategically important region. With our balanced national coverage and strong project pipeline, which has exceeded 30 million square meters available for 2011, we are well positioned to continue strong growth."
Mr. Xin Zhou, E-House's executive chairman, added, "A key factor for our success in building project pipeline is our continued effort to build strategic relationships with China's leading real estate developers. In addition to the strategic cooperation with Greentown announced in September, we have recently also formed or broadened our strategic cooperation with Guangzhou R&F, Country Garden, Agile and KWG Properties. This will go a long way in solidifying our leadership position and providing long-term support for our growth."
Mr. Zhou continued, "Following the latest round of cooling-off measures announced by the Chinese government in early October, including quotas on new purchases and further restrictions on mortgage loans, the sequential decrease in transaction volume in cities that have implemented the measures has so far been much smaller than that following the previous round of cooling-off measures in April. We believe that overall sentiment and demand remains solid and will continue to be supported by favorable medium- and long-term factors. In fact, for the fourth quarter, E-House is on track to set a new record for quarterly sales volume. Looking ahead at 2011, we will continue our strategy of building project pipeline and increasing our market share for our primary agency business. Meanwhile, we expect that our information and consulting services will continue its solid growth. For our online business, we have laid a solid foundation this year and are well positioned for rapid expansion next year."
Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2010 will be in the range of $115 million to $117 million, compared to $117.1 million in the same quarter in 2009.
Mr. Zhou continued, 'Looking forward to the second half of 2009, we are confident in the Chinese government's continued commitment to stimulate economic growth and maintain stable development of the real estate industry. As in the past, E-House is very well positioned to take advantage of the favorable market conditions given our strong project pipeline, brand recognition and execution capabilities. We are confident that we can build on the solid results of the first half and continue strong revenue growth in the second half of 2009. Furthermore, we believe that our revenue increase, coupled with effective cost control, will result in even better profit growth and higher profit margin.'
a The above forecasts reflect the Company's current and preliminary views and are therefore subject to change. Please refer to the Company's Safe Harbor Statement (usually in press releases) for the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement.
''Our results clearly reflect a rebound in China's real estate industry,'' said Mr. Xin Zhou, E-House's chairman and chief executive officer. The rebound in real estate transaction volume that began in the first quarter further strengthened in April and so far in May across all major markets in China. While I'm pleased with our strong results in the first quarter, I'm even more confident that we will be able to deliver better results in the second quarter and later this year. The rebound in transaction volume that accelerated in March will translate into higher commission revenues in the second quarter. Also, increased volume will result in more bonus commissions tied to sales performance and raise our average commission rate."
Guidance Report:
First Quarter Fiscal 2009 Guidance Ending March
Source: PR Newswire (March 12, 2009)
Fourth Quarter 2008 Guidance Ending December
Full Year 2008 Guidance Ending December
This updated annual revenue guidance reflects the Company's expectation that challenging market conditions will persist through the remainder of 2008 due to highly volatile financial and credit markets, the effect of decreased consumer spending within the real estate industry over the near term and uncertainty related to the timing of the Company's revenue recognition in the fourth quarter.
Source: PR Newswire (November 20, 2008)
Real Estate
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