(Yicai Global) Sept. 28 -- Property developer Sunac China Holdings has dismissed reports claiming that its eastern China’s Shaoxing branch has submitted a paper to the government asking for help amid financial difficulties.

“We have never submitted such a report to the government, and we have no intentions or reasons to do so,” the Tianjin-based firm said on its website. “Sunac’s operations are normal, and sales are good nationwide,” it noted, adding that “from January to August contract sales reached CNY415.1 billion (USD64.2 billion), up 33 percent from the same period last year.”

The head of the Shaoxing branch wrote a work report about an issue related to online contract signing but, instead of sending it to the government, he posted it in a WeChat group, Sunac explained. What misled the readers is the fact that the project mentioned in the report has a fiscal imbalance, causing them to think that the request was for financial issues.

Shaoxing city has adopted policies to control and regulate its property market since June, causing second-hand house transactions to fall, as well as great difficulties in the firm’s cash liquidity.

Sunac China reported CNY95.8 billion (USD14.8 billion) in operating revenue in the first half of this year, up 23.9 percent from a year earlier, per the firm’s first-half financial report. Net profit rose 9.4 percent to CNY12 billion (USD1.9 billion), and the debt-to-net worth ratio was 86.6 percent as of June 30, down 9.4 percent from last December.

Editor: Futura Costaglione