Evergrande posts healthy profit boom

China Evergrande Group, one of the country's largest developers, said on Tuesday its net profit more than doubled from a year earlier in 2018, mainly fueled by improvements in cost control and product quality as well as stronger brand recognition.

Net profit, excluding exchange gains or losses, surged 106.4 percent to 72.21 billion yuan (US$10.76 billion) in the year to December.

Profit attributable to shareholders jumped 53.4 percent year on year to 37.39 billion yuan, the Shenzhen-based company said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Revenue rose 49.9 percent to 466.2 billion yuan, mainly on its property business. 

Contracted sales increased 10.1 percent from a year earlier to 551.34 billion yuan by value and rose 4.2 percent to 52.435 million square meters by area, the company said.

The company plans to further develop its tourism arm — mainly its Evergrande Fairyland and Evergrande Water World theme parks — and its health arm, which is responsible for developing Evergrande Elderly Care Valley, a health management product.

It also aims to boost the group's new energy vehicle business.