Annual Report Insights | After surviving, can Tao Tianhai help China Jinmao "live well"?

Ask AI · How can Tao Tianhai’s strategy address lingering concerns in existing projects?

Recently, China Jinmao released its 2025 annual report, which is also the first annual report since Tao Tianhai took office as chairman. In full-year 2025, China Jinmao’s contracted sales totaled RMB 113.5 billion, up 16% year over year. Its industry ranking rose to No. 8, hitting a historic high. Profit attributable to shareholders (including fair value gains/losses on investment properties) was RMB 1.25B, up 18% year over year.

At the earnings release meeting, Tao Tianhai said the company has achieved the phased task of “surviving.” It is now moving toward the goal of “living well.” However, whether China Jinmao can truly “live well,” given “B-side” issues such as not paying dividends, existing burdens still weighing heavily, and the slow pace of development of the second growth curve, still needs to be tested by time and the market.

Data source: China Jinmao 2021–2025 annual reports. Xinjing News Shell Finance reporter Yuan Xiuli. Layout by An.

“Surviving” hinges on three “workable” approaches

Last March 11, after former chairman Zhang Zenggen retired upon reaching the mandatory retirement age, Tao Tianhai took over as chairman and has been in the role for one year so far. According to the 2025 annual report, China Jinmao’s contracted sales totaled RMB 113.5 billion, up 16% year over year; its industry ranking rose to No. 8, a historic high. In addition, the company achieved revenue of RMB 59.37B, up 1% year over year. Profit attributable to shareholders (including fair value gains/losses on investment properties) was RMB 1.25B, up 18% year over year.

Figure/ Screenshot of China Jinmao annual report

At the earnings briefing, Tao Tianhai said, “The phased objective of surviving has been achieved. The company has verified three ‘workable’ approaches: guiding by products to break out of a standalone market cycle; successfully managing projects to drive an upgrade of organizational capabilities; and refreshing the company by strengthening incremental growth and activating existing inventories.”

Tao Tianhai further noted that against the backdrop of the deep adjustment in the 2025 industry, China Jinmao was among the first in the industry to stabilize and stop the decline. “Behind this is our commitment to investment-led benchmarking, product-led benchmarking, and operation-led benchmarking. New projects have achieved ‘one and done’ results—opening 34 projects in the first quarter of the year, with all delivering the effect of benchmark projects.”

China Jinmao’s growth in 2025 is primarily attributable to its product strength and its strategy of focusing on high-tier cities. The “Jin Yu Man Tang” four major product lines launched in 2024 were fully rolled out in 2025, including 6 Jinmao Fu projects, 7 Pu (Jade) series projects, 5 Man series projects, and 8 Tang series projects—becoming an important lever supporting sales performance. Among them, Xi’an Jinmao Pu Yi Dongfang won the local annual sales champion.

As demand from improving-type product segments was released, China Jinmao’s sales structure became more concentrated in high-tier cities and quality projects. In 2025, the share of contracted sales in first- and second-tier cities reached 96%. Contracted sales shares in two major regions—North China and East China—rose to 73%. China Jinmao’s contracted sales in Beijing and Shanghai each exceeded RMB 20 billion; in Xi’an, sales exceeded RMB 10 billion; and in multiple core cities such as Zhengzhou and Tianjin and Xiong’an, the company performed ahead of the market. Because products are focused on core cities, the company’s contracted residential unit price in 2025 rose to approximately RMB 27k per square meter, up significantly by 24% year over year.

Meanwhile, China Jinmao accelerated the deleveraging and sales clearance of its projects. The average first opening cycle for new projects was shortened to 5.2 months. Under an operational strategy of “open fast, return fast, clear fast,” the time for operating cash flow to turn positive was shortened to 10.4 months, achieving rapid fund returns and reinvestment.

Management said that during the reporting period, the company continued to focus on improving incrementals. Since 2024, it has cumulatively acquired 43 projects, all focused on core cities and core submarkets, with an average net sales profit margin of over 10%. At the same time, it actively promoted the activation of existing inventory. In 2025, the company completed clearing for 47 projects. With an upgraded approach—multiple measures taken—the company activated 15 land parcels and 26 large-scale assets in total.

On the financial side, the financing advantages brought by its state-owned central enterprise background became even more apparent. In 2025, China Jinmao’s newly added financing average cost fell to 2.75%. The annual open-market financing cost was as low as 2.3%. Undrawn bank credit lines on hand exceeded RMB 70 billion.

“Second growth curve” quality versus inventory concerns

However, potential issues also cannot be ignored. Although China Jinmao’s profit attributable to shareholders increased 18% year over year in 2025, net profit after deducting fair value losses on investment properties was RMB 27k—only up 2% from the prior year. As a result, the company announced it will not pay an interim or final dividend. Also, basic earnings per share fell 16% year over year to 4.38 cents, and the quality of earnings is worth examining.

Data source: China Jinmao 2021–2025 annual reports. Xinjing News Shell Finance reporter Yuan Xiuli. Layout by An.

Although the overall gross margin for property development improved from 11% to 13%, this improvement was built on newly acquired high-quality projects with net profit margins above 10%. The profitability of the company’s existing inventory projects remains relatively weak. This is also the “aftereffect” left by the aggressive expansion in the past. Those high-priced land projects located in third- and fourth-tier cities and weaker second-tier cities are still a lingering concern.

Figure/ Screenshot of China Jinmao annual report

In fact, the market has long been watching China Jinmao’s ability to clean up existing inventory. Even though management emphasized actively activating existing inventory through strategies such as land reserve acquisitions and swaps, the inventory scale is still substantial. This means that if the market remains sluggish in the future, these inventories will face further impairment pressure.

At present, property development is still the “anchor” of Jinmao’s performance. In 2025, this business generated revenue of RMB 1.36B, accounting for four-fifths of total revenue. For the “second growth curve” that China Jinmao places high hopes on, it has not yet formed a support force that can run on par with the property development business.

Among them, Jinmao Services’ total revenue in 2025 was RMB 49.48B, up 24% year over year, but it accounts for only 6% of total revenue. Property investment income was RMB 3.67B, down 1% year over year, accounting for 3% of total revenue. Hotel revenue was RMB 1.67B, down 5% year over year, accounting for 3% of total revenue. Not only is the overall scale’s contribution to total revenue limited, but China Jinmao’s second growth curve currently still lacks sufficient growth momentum.

In 2026, “Overall action in the land market will be more active. Under an overall tone of being proactive but not aggressive, we will closely follow industry pacing, optimize our investment strategy in a timely manner, go deeper into core cities, capture some high-quality window opportunities, and continue to build industry benchmark products.” Management said it expects that China Jinmao’s industry ranking and sales scale in 2026 overall will maintain an upward-and-stable trend. “The market is still forming a base, but structural opportunities still exist—especially for companies with excellent product capabilities, where opportunities are greater than challenges.”

There is no doubt that China Jinmao’s 2025 performance has merits worth highlighting: sales scale is growing, industry ranking is improving, and financing costs are declining. But from another perspective, this set of results also exposes “B-side” issues such as weak earnings quality, heavy existing-inventory burdens, and a lackluster second growth curve. Only after these lingering concerns gradually dissipate can China Jinmao’s growth truly be considered high-quality growth, and only then can it have a real chance to achieve the goal of “living well.”

Xinjing News Shell Finance reporter Yuan Xiuli

Editor: Yang Juanjuan

Proofread by: Liu Baoqing