We held a conference call with Agile management to discuss the latest developments in operations and financial conditions, with the following highlights:
Sales have exceeded 40 billion yuan since 2023. As of the first 10 months of 2023, Agile has achieved total contract sales of RMB 39.69 billion, a sales area of about 2.66 million square meters, and an average sales price of RMB 14,918 per square meter. Including sales in November, the company's contract sales volume from year to date has exceeded 40 billion yuan. Although the primary market removal rate declined in the second and third quarters, Agile was able to maintain an average monthly sales volume of about 4 billion yuan. We believe this is almost enough to cover monthly operating costs and construction capital expenses to complete delivery tasks.
Profit margins remained low. Due to increased provisions and difficulties in decontamination, the company's gross margin for the first half of 2023 was only around 10%. The company expects the development profit margin to remain around 10%. Even as Ya Life's contribution to profit margins continues to increase, we expect Agile's overall gross margin from 2023 to 2024 to remain below 20%.
The main debt matures in 2025. None of the company's US dollar offshore bonds matured in 2024, and the next maturity date is February 2025. The main maturing debts in 2024 were 2 overseas syndicated loans totaling HK$7 billion, and 2 bonds issued under guarantee by domestic Chinese debt promotion companies in 2023, with a total principal amount of RMB 1.9 billion. In view of the support of overseas banks, we see that the terms of Agile's Hong Kong syndicated loans have been extended or renewed many times in the past (such as syndicated loans that were granted credit in March and May of this year). We also believe Agile can extend the period for increasing the two Chinese bonds.
Lower the target price. Agile is one of very few private enterprise developers that have not defaulted on offshore dollar bonds and are able to extend most of their debts. We lowered the target price to HK$1.16, which is an 80% discount for the net asset value target, similar to the average of private enterprises in the industry. Despite the decline in the quality of profit, we believe that once the effects of the policies introduced become apparent, the company will be able to regain buyer confidence and increase market share to improve profit margins and maintain buying ratings.