Vanke's 2011 profits jump

China's largest property developer by market value, China Vanke Co Ltd, on Monday announced robust growth in its net profits in 2011.

The company's annual report shows that net profits reached 9.62 billion yuan ($1.52 billion) in 2011, up 32.2 percent year on year.

Despite government measures designed to calm the real estate market, Vanke still managed to sell 10.75 million square meters of property and reap 121.5 billion yuan in sales in 2011, making it the only developer with over 100 billion yuan reported in sales revenue in the year.

Vanke attributed its success to its proactive sales strategies and discreet investments, and the company will take the same approach in developing new projects in 2012, according to Tan Huajie, secretary of the board.

Tan predicted that, with the real estate market cooling off since the second half of 2011, many developers will resort to offering discounts to attract buyers. This will bring down profit margins, so Vanke's 2012 net profit ratio is expected to be lower than that of 2011.

The results will come as a boon to Vanke, recently under fire for its use of Anxin wood flooring, which has been found to contain excessive cancer-causing formaldehyde, in one of its projects in the city of Foshan, in Guangdong province.

"Vanke will handle this issue with the top priority on ensuring quality," said Yu Liang, Vanke's president.

However, Vanke will not scrap its policy of delivering furnished apartments, as had been speculated.

"Delivering apartments that have already been furnished not only saves our buyers' time but also helps reduce costs and conserve energy as a large number of apartments can be furnished at the same time," Yu said.