Earnings at Chinese property developer Country Garden fell as much as 70 per cent in the first half of the year, as the country’s largest real estate group by sales was drawn into a crisis that has raged through the heavily indebted sector.

Core profit could have dropped to between Rmb4.5bn and Rmb5bn ($6634mn-$736mn) in the first six months of 2022, down from Rmb15.2bn a year earlier, according to a filing on Thursday.

Country Garden, which lost its last investment-grade rating after Fitch downgraded it to junk status on Tuesday, cited a market downturn, the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and foreign exchange losses for the fall in earnings. Unlike a growing number of its highly leveraged peers, Country Garden has not defaulted on its debts.