A slew of Chinese real estate developers said this week that they are either not able to release their financial results on time or have yet to set board meetings for them.
Among them is troubled property developer Evergrande which shook investment markets last year as a result of its debt crisis.
The developers gave a variety of reasons for not being able to do so.
In a filing to the Hong Kong exchange on Tuesday, Evergrande said that due to the "drastic changes" in its operational environment since the second half of last year, its auditor added "a large number of additional audit procedures" this year.
Coupled with "the effect caused by the Covid-19 outbreak," Evergrande will not be able to publish results by the end of March for its year ended Dec. 31, 2021, it said in the filing.
It said that it will publish the audited results "as soon as practicable" after the audit is completed.
Late Tuesday, another major developer Kaisa also said in a filing that it would not be able to publish earnings by Mar. 31, as the audit hasn't been completed due to a recent Covid lockdown in Shenzhen. Due to this delay, its shares will halt trading from April 1, it said.
Other developers said the resignation of auditors meant they could not issue their financial year (FY) 2021 earnings on time, according to Japanese bank Nomura.