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The unstable global economy and restricted monetary austerity measures imposed on the property market, property sector in the PRC have experienced a challenging year in 2011. Investors have adopted a prudent outlook in the property market in the PRC due to these factors and the lingering uncertainties about the prospects of growth in the economy. In particular, the restrictions on purchasing a second residence has led to a drop in transaction volume of properties in first-tier cities while the overall property market has entered into a period of consolidation. Despite this, by capitalising on the Group's solid operating experience, continue support and trust from customers, the Group was able to enlarge its market share during the year. The solid business foundation established in second and third-tier cities over the years have also helped the Group achieved relatively stable results. The Group recorded a turnover of HK$1,611 million, a growth of 21% when compared with that in 2010. Profit attributable to shareholders was HK$134.3 million.

During the year, the Group's primary property real estate agency service business remained strong, enabling it to maintain its market leader position. The Group secured many exclusive agency projects which were the focus of significant market interest. Among which, Riviera, a luxurious residential project developed by three renowned and respected developers Sun Hung Kai Properties, KWG Property and R&F Properties, achieved outstanding sales. The Group also attracted the support of well-known developers such as Vanke, Evergrande, Poly, Gemdale, King Gold Group, Citic, Agile Property, Kaisa, Star River, New World China Land and Shui On China Central Properties. Through these partnerships, the Group has gained more projects for sales planning which helped increase the Group's market share and to move towards its goal of becoming one of the leading property agencies in China.

The real estate agency business in the secondary property market was more susceptible to austerity measures. During the year, the Group has strategically adjusted the focus and direction of its business in this market. It strictly controlled operating costs and expanded its business scope on the one hand, and utilised its customer resources and built up a secondary property market team to actively involve in sales of primary property projects. This initiative has enabled the Group to maintain a healthy operation and business volume under the extremely challenging market environment. Other property related businesses, principally project consultancy services, mortgage referral and property management, continued to generate steady income for the Group.

Despite the sustained impact from the austerity measures, market demand for housing was still strong, driven by the domestic economic growth. The continued prosperous economy plus the adjustment on property prices by the developers in close alignment with market changes have stimulated transaction volume. The Group believes that the transaction volume of the property market in Mainland China will gradually return to a growth track. Looking ahead, the Group believes that the worst is over and is confident about the long term development of the property market in the PRC. As more and more developers tend to hire agents to sell their properties, the Group expects to continue enlarging its market share in the PRC, further strengthen its leadership in the industry while at the same time enhance its overall capability so as to provide better services to its customers.

Last but not least, on behalf of the Board, I would like to thank all of our shareholders, business partners and customers for their support, as well as their confidence in and recognition of the Group's future development strategy. I would also like to express my gratitude for our staff over the year. Their dedicated efforts and contributions were the key for the Group to successfully overcome the difficulties that we encountered and to strengthen our business. To meet the upcoming challenges, the Board intends to continue to work closely with all of our staff with the shared objective to generate promising long-term returns for our shareholders.