Greetings. Welcome to New World Development Company Limited's FY 2025 Interim Presentation, Online Analysts and Investors Briefing. I am the IR Director, Patrick Chong. I'm the moderator for this briefing session. First of all, let me introduce to you our management in attendance.
They are New World Development's Executive Director and CEO, Ms. Echo Huang. New World Development Executive Director, Mr. Sitt Nam Hoi. New World Development Executive Director and CFO, Mr. Edward Lau. New World China COO, Mr. Benny Chan. If you have any questions, please type your questions into the chat box on Webcast. I will read out your questions. I will now pass the floor to Echo.
Thank you. First of all, thank you, investors and analysts, for attending our interim results presentation today. This is the first time for me to preside over the results presentation briefing. Since I took over as CEO of the group at the end of November last year, and I deeply feel the responsibility, I would like to express my gratitude to our New World team for their full support, as usual.
I am confident that we will overcome all difficulties. In fact, the property market is facing a lot of challenges now. Interest rates are still on the high. Our company's debt is still at a relatively high level. The property markets on the mainland and Hong Kong still need time to recover. The combination of these factors is a test for us. In the face of various challenges, we need to be more composed.
I am a person who is used to fighting winning battles, and I will actively promote business development in the future and strive for better results in order to live up to the trust and support of the board and our investors. Therefore, for a period of time in the past, I, together with the management and all colleagues, have been doing our best to meet challenges in a flexible way. At present, our work comprises two major directions.
First, we will continue to develop and promote our business, focusing on the core property business to ensure normal and stable operations and to speed up return of capital. Secondly, we will improve cash flow of the company. We attach great importance to cash flow. We will actively manage our finances and properly handle our debts. Our topmost responsibility or task is to reduce indebtedness.
To be more specific, we will implement seven measures to reduce indebtedness. First, we will actively sell our development projects. and the pavilia forest in Kai Tak have already commenced sales. We'll continue to sell these projects as soon as possible and launch Wong Chuk Hang The Southside phase V and Nga Tsin Long Road project in Kowloon City as soon as possible.
On the mainland, we'll continue to sell a number of projects in Tier 1 cities, including Guangzhou Canton View, The Sillage, and Hangzhou New World Arts Centre projects. At the same time, we will promote development of urban renewal projects in Guangzhou and Shenzhen so that they can be launched as soon as possible to accelerate return of capital. Secondly, we will continue to sell non-core assets actively.
We'll continue to dispose of our non-core assets and business to realize cash flow. We are now deliberating about several projects, and we'll announce the details when they are finalized. In addition to property sales, we aim to achieve a total of HKD 26 billion by FY 2025. Third, we will unlock the value of the group's farmland. Our group has a land bank of more than 14 million sq ft in the Northern Metropolis, with a lot of good- quality land.
We are also actively cooperating with central and state-owned enterprises, and we'll accelerate our effort to develop more projects to unlock value. Fourth, we will improve rental return and increase recurring revenue. Our commercial projects in Hong Kong and the mainland are operating satisfactorily. In particular, leasing of the group's offices has been maintained at a good level.
We'll continue to work hard to improve rental income in the hope of further expanding recurring revenue. Fifth, we will continue to streamline our costs and reduce capital and operating expenditure in a great way. We are now strictly managing our expenditure, and both CapEx and OpEx have declined significantly, and we will continue to do so in the period to come. Sixth, dividend holds. We'll continue to suspend dividend payments and retain cash.
Seventh, proactive treasury management. We'll continue to discuss with major banks on refinancing arrangements and make good use of the interest cut cycle that we have entered into in order to reduce interest expenses. Later on, Mr. Lau, CFO, Mr. Sitt Nam Hoi, Executive Director, and Mr. Benny Chan, COO of New World China, will give more detailed explanation later. The group's day-to-day operations are smooth.
I am pleased to share with you that after a series of efficiency enhancement and cost-cutting, and revenue expansion measures, we have made initial progress in reducing indebtedness. First, the company's cash flow has improved. Second, our overall gross debt continues to decrease, with short-term debts down by HKD 9.4 billion. In terms of property sales, the record-breaking sales result of The State Pavilia in North Point was very satisfactory, while of The Pavilia Forest were also very stable.
Property sales on the mainland are even more impressive, with more than 70% of the original target for the whole year accomplished in the first half of the fiscal year, reflecting that the market has stabilized and stopped decline, and it also proves that buyers have full confidence in the New World brand. In the current environment, the support of our customers, investors, business partners, and the community, especially the banks, is very important to our group.
I would like to point out that the support of major banks to our business shows that they have confidence in our operations, and this is a great encouragement to me. Right now, the global economy is still full of uncertainties, and we believe that in the future, the overall economy and the real estate industry will continue to face many challenges. Our management will certainly rise to the challenges, and we are confident that the group is resilient enough to tide over the difficulties together with the Hong Kong community. New World will continue to give full play to our strengths and contribute to the prosperity of Hong Kong and our country.
Now, very quickly, I will share with you our first half FY 25 financial performance, specifically for core operating profits. In first half FY 25, although we recorded good contracted sales in both Hong Kong and Mainland China, due to the impact of the general market in recent years, the profit margins of our property development projects booked were generally lower than that of the same period last year. Core operating profit for the first half of the fiscal year was HKD 4.4 billion, down 18% year on year, while our investment properties continue to perform well.
Excluding the impact of sold assets on revenue, segment results increased by about 7%, of which segment results of K11 also increased by 5%. For loss, in first half FY 2025, loss attributable to shareholders amounted to HKD 6.6 billion, mainly due to some one-off losses, including HKD 1.6 billion on fair value changes on investment properties. And recently, because of market downturn, there was a HKD 3.4 billion impairment on development properties.
Besides, we have sold non-core assets and business portfolio, and we recorded a HKD 1 billion one-off loss. For expenses, G&A expenses were HKD 1.8 billion, down 9% year on year, mainly due to the continued optimization of our organizational structure, enhancement of management efficiency, and drastic cost-cutting efforts to reduce internal operating costs. For CapEx, it's HKD 4.9 billion, a significant drop of 35% from the same period last year. And we have lowered our FY 2025 CapEx guidance of less than HKD 15 billion to less than HKD 13 billion, mainly because we will continue to exercise stringent control over CapEx.
This demonstrates our determination to reduce indebtedness. For our debts, our gross debt has continued to fall, and as at the end of December 2024, our gross debt has decreased by HKD 5.1 billion, comparing to June 2024. For short-term debt, it's decreased by HKD 9.4 billion, comparing with December 2023. That is, over the past one year, our total debt has decreased by HKD 11.4 billion. Now, I would defer to our CFO, Mr. Lau, to explain our financial situation. Thank you, Edward.
Thank you, Echo. In the face of the current uncertainty in the industry, we attach great importance to cash flow. At the same time, while maintaining the normal development of our company's business, reducing debt is our top priority. In first half FY 25, we saw significant improvement in cash flow from operations.
Net cash flow from operations, together with the sale of non-core assets N CD, totaled about HKD 9.6 billion, which was nearly sufficient to cover our CapEx of HKD 4.9 billion. Net interest expense HKD 3.9 billion and HKD 0.9 billion interest on our perpetual bonds. Our cash was reduced by HKD 6.1 billion in first half FY 2025, which was largely used to pay down our debt. In August, we issued HKD 3.1 billion equivalent of US dollar- denominated bonds, and we bought back HKD 1.2 billion of bonds and perpetual bonds.
For bank loans, our net repayment amounted to HKD 7.8 billion. As a result of the above financial arrangements, our total debts during this period were down HKD 5.1 billion. For perpetual bonds, it is reduced by HKD 0.9 billion. As of the end of December 2024, total debt of HKD 146.5 billion, short-term debt amounted to HKD 32.2 billion, a decrease of HKD 9.4 billion compared to June 2024, mainly due to the refinancing of a portion of our short-term debts into long-term debt.
Comparing with December 2023, that is, in the past one year, our total debts decreased by HKD 11.4 billion. Due to the improvement in our operating cash flow, our net debt in the past half a year has stabilized. In June 2024, it was HKD 123.7 billion. It slightly increased by HKD 0.9 billion to HKD 124.6 billion, mainly due to repurchase of HKD 0.9 billion of perpetual bonds in August 2024. If this was not done, our net debt is basically flat. It stayed the same. Benefiting from the interest rate cut in Hong Kong and the U.S., average interest rates in Hong Kong dropped from 4.9% in first half FY 2024 to 4.7% in first half FY 2025.
Regarding net gearing, in FY 2025 first half, it increased by 2.5% to 57.5%, mainly due to the non-cash impact of the investment properties and development properties impairments, the buyback of perpetual bonds, and depreciation of RMB. Excluding these one-off financial treatments and the impact of foreign exchange, net gearing ratio would have been 2.1% lower than now at about 55.4%, which is more or less the same as in the previous year. Over to you, Echo.
Thank you, Edward. As mentioned above, under the premise of maintaining the company's normal business development, debt reduction is our top priority. We will implement the seven measures to reduce indebtedness with full strength. I would now explain the points one by one. For Hong Kong property development projects, in 2024, in Hong Kong, after the announcement of relaxation of all the stringent measures, in the second half of the year, interest cut cycle started. Coupled with relaxation of loan-to-value ratios and other favorable policies, the atmosphere of the Hong Kong property market has recovered.
Due to unnecessary speculations and reports arising from our NCD, which affected our work, we have decided to disclose progress of NCD together with DP contracted sales, instead of disclosing progress of NCD alone. Taking NCD into account, our contracted sales attributable to Hong Kong in the first half of FY 2025 amounted to HKD 5.2 billion, and our FY 2025 target is HKD 11 billion. In other words, in the first half, we have completed 47% of the target.
As of 31st December 2024, for PAVILIA FOREST in Kai Tak, we have already sold 514 units, with contracted sales of nearly HKD 3.5 billion. And there are many big investors who are foreign buyers, and it is the highest-selling brand-new project in Kai Tak runway area in the past three years. In North Point, The State Pavilia residential project, it provides a total of 388 residential units, and it has been highly sought after by the market, and it sells very well since its launch.
Since the launch of the project on 11th January, a total of 313 units have been put up for sale in batches, and 279 units have been sold in just one month. Total turnover was nearly HKD 3.2 billion. At the same time, The State Pavilia has also set three records in 2025. First, it has set a record on the Hong Kong Island in terms of highest price per sq ft. Highest price reached HKD 51,000 per sq ft for the penthouse duplex unit. Second, it is the king of tickets for new developments in the urban area this year, with oversubscription of about 95 times.
Thirdly, it is the first development that was sold out in the first round on the first day this year. This shows buyers love New World Development's brand and our products, and they have confidence in our company. Taking into account the contracted sales of The State Pavilia and other projects in January and February this year, our attributable contracted sales in Hong Kong amounted to HKD 7.9 billion, which accounted for 72% of our FY 2025 annual target. In other words, as of now, in Hong Kong, we have already completed 72% of our target.
Apart from residential properties, in West Kowloon, sales of our office buildings also performed well. Taking 888 Lai Chi Kok Road as an example, as of first half FY 2025, all projects or all units have been sold out already. Contracted sales in the first half reached HKD 1.2 billion. Contracted sales, the office building at 83 Wing Hong Street, is our next focus project. And as the last commercial building project to be launched in the region, it is believed that it will continue to be highly sought after by the market. Now, I will invite Mr. Benny Chan, COO of New World China, to give a brief account of development of properties on the mainland.
Yes, thank you. Property development on the mainland, referring to the macro environment, on September 26th last year, the central government explicitly called for the real estate market to stop falling and stabilize, marking a policy inflection point. In December, the Politburo meeting further emphasized the need to stabilize the property market by 2025, injecting confidence into the market.
Under this policy direction set by the central government, various local governments have responded positively, with frequency of policy introduction accelerating and covering a wide range of potential measures, including optimizing or abolishing the purchase restriction, lowering down payment ratio, lowering mortgage interest rates, optimizing the price restriction policy. In first-tier cities, we have seen decline has stopped, and the property market has stabilized. First-tier cities took the lead in stabilizing, with Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen markets showing improvement in January.
Thanks to our forward-looking planning in the early years, our land reserves are in these core areas, in these cities. Through our flexible marketing strategy, we have successfully capitalized on the policy dividend and achieved satisfactory results in a number of projects. In first half FY 2025, our mainland contracted sales reached RMB 7.5 billion. In view of the current direction of the market, we have raised our full-year target from RMB 11 billion to RMB 14 billion.
Now, I would talk about a few major projects. In the GBA market, as Guangzhou's luxury property benchmark, Guangzhou New Metropolis Mansion, we have introduced a new phase of its property project, which has already sold HKD 2 billion at the opening, which can be said to have a good price and good market. For Guangzhou, the village located in CBD of Bai'etan , it has been ranked first in terms of number of visitors and transactions for several consecutive months.
For Yaosheng Zunfu in the core area of Chimelong Panyu, it had the highest average transaction price in Panyu from January to November 2024. In the northern market, Shenyang's Parksville has led the market. Cumulative sales in 2024 reached RMB 1.1 billion. It ranked top in Shenyang. For Shanghai, we have Tianhui X i project, and it is expected to be delivered by June and will be booked in FY 2025. For Hangzhou, as a national private economy demonstration city, it has recently continued to deepen its policies. And there is the emergence of emerging technology forces represented by artificial intelligence, DeepSeek.
This has directly driven demand for commercial real estate, with the residential and office markets experiencing strong supply and demand. In 2019, we are planning to build a 740,000 square meter urban complex, Wangjiang New City. So it is a complex known as Hangzhou New World Arts Centre. The residential portion of phase one of the project, Jiangming Yuelang, was successfully delivered at the end of last year, while 120,000 square meter of commercial space, including large-sized, flat-sized apartments, offices, and mini-malls, is expected to be delivered from June 25 onwards.
Phase two of the project has also been topped out and is expected to be fully completed by the end of 2025. I would like to highlight the sale of non-core assets. In the first half of the financial year, we completed the sale of Beijing Xinjing office, Ningbo New World office, Guangzhou Lingnan New World, Shenyang, and other places. We'll continue to sell our non-core assets in the second half of the year to speed up return of capital. That's all from me.
Thank you, Benny. In the coming years, the Group will continue to launch projects in both Hong Kong and mainland China for property development. In Hong Kong, within 2025, we will focus on four projects. In addition The State Pavilia in North also the pavilia forest in Kai Tak, and the remaining units, we'll gradually launch the Wong Chuk Hang Station, Hong Kong Island Southside Phase 5 project, and Kowloon City Nga Tsin Long Road project, which comprised a total of more than 1,800 units.
Besides, our JV projects will continue to be put up for sale, such as [Foreign language] in Kai Tak and Taifeng in Kowloon Bay. Besides, the [Foreign language] Road project in Western Mid-Levels will be launched within this year. In addition, next month, there will be four property development projects in Hong Kong that will commence construction. One of them is a joint project with China Merchants in Northern Metropolis.
The other three are in urban area, including Rose Street in Kowloon Tong, Canton Road in Jordan, and Kwun Chung Street in Tsim Sha Tsui, all of which are urban redevelopment projects on old leased land, and the timing for selling the units will be more flexible. It is expected that the sale of properties can commence in 2026-2027. This will speed up our capital recovery.
On the mainland, the market has stabilized, leading to a rise in the popularity of quality land lots in key cities and the emergence of land kings worth HKD 10 billion in first-tier cities. In December last year, China Resources Land and China Merchants jointly won the land parcel in Yuehai Street, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, at a floor price of more than RMB 70,000 per square meter, refreshing the top one total price of residential land in Shenzhen, reflecting the developers' confidence in the future of the industry.
Our nearby Xili project, which is about 1.5 kilometers away from the Xili high-speed rail hub under construction, has a high-quality location, and it is believed that it can bring considerable revenue and profits. And construction will commence in March, and it will be launched in 2026. The Longgang project in Shenzhen has also started construction. It will be launched in 2026.
In this year and next year, we will continue to launch key projects, including Guangzhou, Kai Xuan New World, Guangzhou Sillage, Yao Sheng New World , Hangzhou, Wangjiang New City, and Shenzhen Longgang Xili projects. With the group's forward-looking strategy to invest in core first and second-tier cities and core locations, coupled with our persistent high-quality development and brand appeal, we are confident that we will achieve satisfactory sales results. Next, I would invite our Executive Director, Mr. Sitt Nam- Hoi, to explain the development of our farmland. Mr. Sitt?
Okay, thank you, Echo. Regarding farmland, the government is actively developing the Northern Metropolis in order to promote Hong Kong's future economic development and increase land reserve. New World has abundant farmland resources, including about HKD 14 million sq ft of farmland in the Northern Metropolis.
Currently, we have planned projects that will provide a total of about 12 million sq ft of attributable GFA, of which short to medium-term projects can provide about 9 million sq ft of GFA, and long-term projects can provide an additional 3 million sq ft of GFA. We hope to accelerate conversion of farmland through our farmland reserve, effectively reduce average land costs and related CapEx, and significantly enhance and unlock value of the land.
To complement the government's planning and development of the Northern Metropolis, we took the lead to sign cooperation agreements with a number of state-owned enterprises from the end of 2023, including China Merchants Shekou, China Resources Land, and Shum Yip Group, as previously disclosed. In addition, in November last year, we signed a letter of intent for the development of the Northern Metropolis area led by the SARG and reached an agreement with other industry leaders such as China Overseas and China Railway Construction to jointly develop the Northern Metropolis.
We'll continue to seek cooperation with more SOEs. As for the progress of projects, the land exchange for the Fanling Ma Sik Road project with China Merchants Shekou, well, a land exchange was completed in December 2024. Premium was HKD 1,627 per sq ft, which is about 35% lower than recent transactions in the same area. Total GFA of the project is 1.12 million sq ft. Our group's attributable GFA is 340,000 sq ft. Construction is expected to commence next month.
As regards the specific timetable for farmland exchange, apart from Fanling Ma Sik Road project, that land exchange was completed. It is expected that within one to two years, several more projects will see completion of land exchange. They are Yuen Long Lam Hau Tsuen, and also the Long Tin Tsuen Phase 2 and Long Tin Tsuen Phase 4, which we work with China Resources Land. So this will add an additional 1 million sq ft of GFA to the group. In the coming three to five years, we will make town planning applications and land exchange applications, and this can increase the group's attributable GFA by about 7.2 million sq ft.
Major projects include Tong Yan San Tsuen, Sha Po, Wing Kei Tsuen, Yuen Long Wing Ning Tsuen, Yuen Long Long Tin Tsuen phase V, and Shap Pat Heung Road. Among them, for Yuen Long Long Tin Tsuen phase V and Shap Pat Heung Road projects in Yuen Long, planning applications were approved by the Town Planning Board in December 2024 and January 2025, respectively. We are also studying different options to provide an additional 4 million sq ft of GFA. As for the long run, major projects under planning at present include San Tin Lin Barn Tsuen, Ngau Tam Mei, and Lau Fau Shan, which will provide around 3.2 million sq ft of GFA. Next, I will pass the floor back to Echo.
Thank you, Mr. Sitt. Regarding Hong Kong investment properties, K11 has attracted many major international brands with its unique cultural business model and positioning. We'll continue to optimize our tenant mix. A number of major international brands have already confirmed that they will move into K11 this year or expand their store.
For example, Prada, Rolex, BV, etc., will move into K11 this year. And Balenciaga, YSL, and other existing brands will further expand. Besides, K11 will continue to promote interactive experiences for customers. In July, K11 Musea will open the first CR7 LIFE Museum in Asia. K11 Art Mall will also continue to launch experiential limited edition stores through collaboration with brands to drive foot traffic. For office, we have another project in this district that is 83 King Lam Street, which already started population intake last year as the first twin tower project in West Kowloon and a new landmark in the district.
We will use it for long-term rental income. Current occupancy rate is about 40%, with a number of tenants under negotiation right now. I believe occupancy rate will continue to rise. For tenants, local tenants account for about 60%. Other tenants come from Japan, the Middle East, and the U.S. For our other office buildings, occupancy rate has been satisfactory. Occupancy rate of K11 Atelier Victoria Dockside is close to 99%. K11 Atelier on King's Road North Point has an overall occupancy rate of 93%.
Occupancy rate of Manning House is about 93%. And after we moved our headquarters out of New World Tower, occupancy rate increased to about 80%. As for 11 SKIES, it will be the largest one-stop retail and entertainment landmark in Hong Kong, providing visitors from all over the world with a top-rated experience. For mainland investment properties, some of our projects have further enhanced the consumer experience and brand appeal through brand upgrades and business adjustments.
With precise market positioning and excellent operational capabilities, overall occupancy rates of our commercial projects remained stable, demonstrating strong competitiveness and market recognition as a benchmark for art businesses. The park by K11 Select Ningbo was opened in September last year, and there was grand opening at the end of December. It was highly recognized by the market. It has become a landmark in Ningbo and even in Eastern China. Currently, occupancy rate is over 70%.
With more stores moving in, occupancy rates will continue to rise. We have several large-scale investment projects that will open this year on the mainland. They include our first flagship project in mainland China, K11 E COAST. It will open on April 28, 2025, and it will be one of the largest shopping malls in Shenzhen. The second one is K11 Select in Panyu CBD in Chimelong, Guangzhou. It is the first K11 project in GBA, and it will also open in the third quarter of 2025. For CapEx, you can see from this chart that in the past few fiscal years, our CapEx has been decreasing year- over- year.
This is mainly due to the following reasons. First, we have strictly controlled our project expenditure, and we vigorously upgraded our construction efficiency starting from the design stage. Number two, our property development projects in the mainland are mainly in the form of redevelopment of old areas, which gives us an advantage in terms of land costs. In the coming period, we'll focus on property development projects with a shorter cash flow cycle to accelerate capital recovery. In FY 2025, we'll continue to control CapEx so that it will fall below HKD 13 billion.
Regarding operating costs, thanks to optimization of our corporate structure and processes, we're able to save expenses. And so, in first half FY 2025, G&A amounted to HKD 1.8 billion, down 9% year- on- year. And since first half FY 2023, there's a decrease of 13% year- on- year. In the future, I will continue to optimize our corporate processes and enhance operating efficiency. In view of our current financial situation, we have decided to continue to suspend dividend payments. In the coming period, we won't pay dividend until we have made concrete progress in reducing indebtedness.
Now, I would like to review with you the progress of our financial management. First, the company's cash flow has improved. Second, gross debt has continued to decrease. Short-term debt is down HKD 9.4 billion. In the future, I will continue to improve the company's cash flow, actively manage our finances, and properly handle our debts. We will discuss refinancing arrangements with major banks. Finally, I would like to thank all investors once again, especially banks, for their strong support over the past few months to me, which has strengthened our confidence in overcoming the challenges ahead. Once again, thank you all.
Thank you, Echo. Now, it's Q&A session. Because we have already received many questions, we have already categorized the questions. Because of time, our management will try their best to answer the questions. First question is for Echo. Echo, as the new CEO, are you going to put the group's future development direction to the mainland? Thank you.
Now, real estate is New World's core business, and all along, the group is rooted in Hong Kong and looking towards overseas and the mainland. So I guess people ask this question because they are concerned about my mainland background. In the real estate industry, I have experience of almost 30 years. I have worked for New World for 10 years already. I am very familiar with the mainland market. With my experience, well, to be honest, I have never left the Hong Kong market. All along, I have been living in Hong Kong. So for me, well, I have rich real estate experience, so I'm confident that I can navigate both markets.
Besides, I can make decisions as soon as possible. As a manager, I believe that with my experience in the real estate business and my very rich mainland management experience, and my interpersonal connections, well, regarding sales and also land acquisition, sales, and leasing, I have got so many years of experience. I personally believe that, well, since there are some concerns about my familiarity with the Hong Kong market, I can say for sure and with confidence that, looking at the The State Pavilia, well, it has proven that I can master over the market.
Will I turn my direction to the mainland? As said in my presentation, next month in March, we will launch four projects. And then in terms of projects for sale, we will accelerate our progress on the mainland in Shenzhen. In Shenzhen, we have two projects, and in Hangzhou and Shanghai, we have never stopped our work. So I can answer your question with sure that in the future, in both Hong Kong and the mainland, our development won't change from that in the past.
All right, thank you, Echo. Next question. Now, some time ago, there was rumor that the group has invited FTI and Linklaters to help your restructuring, and some time ago, there was a press release issued, so can you tell us whether you will consider a debt restructuring?
Well, our answer is there is no change. At present, our company has not done or has not discovered about any debt restructuring. Our group has been managing our finances actively. We are lowering our gross debt, and we are complying with our debt obligations. So we also comply with all disclosure requirements, and we also provide investors with the necessary and appropriate information.
Thank you. Next question. Some time ago, there was a report saying that your group has discussed with many banks about a super large-scale refinancing after expiry of some debt, and then there are 13 pieces of collaterals worth HKD 19.1 billion. So, when would the work be completed? And concerning this large-scale financing, what is the strategic meaning on your overall debt reduction?
As Echo said, our group has been actively managing our finance. So we work to reduce indebtedness with full force, and we are controlling our financing costs. We have been discussing with banks about refinancing arrangements, and we need to thank them for supporting New World a lot. At present, our major goal is to lower total gross debt and to improve our operating cash flow. We have complied with all disclosure requirements. At the same time, we will release appropriate information to investors in a timely way.
Thank you, Edward. Next question is about a recent rumor. For K11 Art Mall, they're asking when that deal will be completed. So this question is for me. The group, from time to time, will receive from potential buyers some inquiries about our assets. So this shows that our assets are of good quality and they are attractive in the market. I can only say that at this present moment, we have not signed any legally binding agreements about these assets.
Regarding Art Mall or other malls, to be honest, well, I will only sell when my desired price is reached. As Benny said, on the mainland in Beijing recently, the Xin Jing project was transacted. It was sold to ChangJiang Business Group at RMB 1.4 billion, and we have sold an office building in Ningbo. Regarding the transaction date of Art Mall, I can say that if there is appropriate price or terms, then for sure I will let you know promptly. Right, thank you. The next question is about NCD. Which assets are now being sold by the group, and which assets will definitely not be sold?
Just now, in our presentation, I said that in the past, regarding NCD disclosure, well, many rumors, speculations, and reports have arisen affecting our daily work. The group has decided that in the future, we will not disclose NCD progress alone. NCD and DP contracted sales will be disclosed together. In the future, we will actively and strategically dispose of non-core assets so as to achieve recovery of capital.
The next question is about [Foreign language], phase III. What is the progress, and when will sales start?
For phase III, [Foreign language], the overall structural works have completed. For facade and internal decoration, some time ago, that had started already. We will continue to monitor the contractor so that they finish their work as soon as possible. We are now working on The Pavilia Farm progress, so in due course, we will announce.
All right, thank you. Next question is about our debts. Does the group have clear debt reduction goal, including the perpetual debts, well, how low the debt level would reach?
As said in the presentation, in face of the uncertainties in the industry, we attach much importance to cash flow. In first half FY 2025, cash flow from operations has improved significantly. Net cash flow from operations, together with NCD, is enough, almost enough to cover our CapEx, net interest expenses, and interest from perpetual bond. Total debts are decreasing, especially short-term debts. For short-term debt, there is a decrease by HKD 9.4 billion, so in the period to come, we will reduce debts and lower leveraging. These are our major goals. Our goal is to lower leveraging ratio to a sustainable level. Thank you.
Next question is about whether the majority shareholder will inject funds. If that will be done, in what way? Apart from selling non-core assets, will that be a rights issue, or will that be an increase in shareholders' loans? Will you sell 75% shareholder of New World Department Store? Will that be privatized by Chow Tai Fook Holdings?
All right, let me answer the question. There is no doubt that in the real estate industry, there are a lot of challenges. But I would like to emphasize once again that I believe that New World Group is very resilient. We have high-quality properties and outstanding talents. Our team is united. We work together strongly, and we have achieved good results in our business. No matter in Hong Kong or the mainland, sales of our developments have been good. Our leasing performance is also satisfactory, as said just now.
There are two major directions in our work, and there are seven measures to reduce indebtedness. For the group, I believe that this is the right direction. I can say for sure that we will ride out the difficulties, and we will actively seek different ways to improve our cash flow so as to lower our debt. That is our topmost goal, and I believe that with the resilience of our team and the proactive attitude, we can definitely ride out various difficulties. All right, thank you. Here's a question about NCD. This time, why is it that you do not report on NCD independently? Is it true that you are not able to dispose of those assets? Regarding property sales and NCD, how much are they separately?
Well, I can stress again, just now I said already that NCD has led to unnecessary speculations and reports affecting our normal operations and work. So we have decided that in the future, we won't disclose progress of NCD separately. So, NCD and DP contracted sales will be disclosed in a combined way. NCD, together with property sales in FY 2025, we will reach HKD 26 billion, roughly. Okay, thank you.
Next question. For cash on hand, you only have HKD 21.9 billion. If your group is talking with banks about HKD 60 billion refinancing, and if that can't be realized, how can you repay the HKD 32.2 billion short-term debt?
Well, let me say that we are actively managing our finance and debts, and we are working hard to reduce indebtedness and financing costs. In first half FY 2025, cash flow from operations has improved significantly. Net cash flow from operation is almost enough to cover our CapEx, our net interest expense, and also coupon of perpetual bond. As Echo said many times, that we continue our normal operations and business. And if you look at property sales, our results are improving, and cash flow from many projects will be realized in the second half.
So this can speed up capital recovery. We will actively sell non-core assets. So I have confidence in cash flow. As Echo said just now, we are grateful for the bank's support to us. Our team will continue to work hard. We will improve efficiency, and we will work to the best of our ability to reduce indebtedness. Thank you.
Next question. Recently, in the recent two results announcements, there was an extremely large amount of provisioning and also revaluation of loss. In the coming period, do you need such re-provision?
For our IP and DP valuation, our auditor and valuers have already verified them, and they show the latest market situation. Based on our prudent financial management principle in 2021 to 2024, for our IPs, we have made impairment in 2023, HKD 2.3 billion, and then HKD 1.4 billion, and then HKD 7.1 billion in the subsequent years. We'll continue to value the fair value, and if necessary, we will make a necessary adjustment.
All right, thank you. One of the company's perpetual bond will see call dates next month. Are you going to redeem it?
In handling our debts and perpetual debts, we will give different considerations on various aspects. Let me clarify. Mid-March is the earliest day for us to give notice to notify investors about a call to redeem. That is the time for our perpetual. The setup time of our perpetual is mid-June this year. So we don't need to make a decision in March. We can choose to redeem this perpetual between March to June. At the same time, there won't be additional cost.
Okay, because of time, I will read the last question. Management, regarding 2025, overall trend in the mainland property market, and also the performance over Chinese New Year, what do you think?
As I said earlier, in September last year, the central government said that they would like to make sure that the property market would stop decline and start to stabilize. We believe that policy environment is already quite relaxed. In 2025, there was emergence of DeepSeek, and a lot of vitality is brought to the Chinese economy. It seems that there is a paradigm shift.
If the economy is good, then people's confidence in buying properties will be stronger. In FY 2025, in the mainland property market, we believe that it will stabilize and gradually recover. We will revise our full-year target to HKD 14 billion, as said just now. We have a layout in Tier 2 cities, including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, and we believe that they will lead the country as a whole.
Now, talking about business in CNY, traditionally, CNY is not a busy property market period. People went to visit their families and relatives and so on, so it was rather quiet. There was pent-up demand, and there are favorable policies, and there will be the Two Sessions soon. We believe that the market will recover soon. There might be a small boom. In Guangzhou, if you look at the property market, it showed outstanding performance, including ourselves.
Good quality property companies during CNY have seen an increase by 71% of subscription of GFA, so it is mainly in the peripheral areas of Guangzhou, so the property purchase restrictions have been relaxed as a result. Turnover has increased. We're talking about Guangzhou. Guangzhou all along has been our focal market. Just now, I talked about our Sillage, Panyu, Parksville, and other benchmark luxury projects, well, they are in prime locations with good management and also our New World brand management, so I think these projects are going to continue to perform well.
Thank you, Benny. Finally, once again, thank you very much for joining New World Development's FY 2025 Interim Results Presentation. Thank you.