Chapter 314 Wealth Statistics in 1962
Chapter 314 Wealth Statistics in 1962 (2)
"Okay." Wang Fengzhi said, "Then let me report to you about the situation of Changxing Real Estate?"
"Okay." Yang Wendong agreed.
Wang Fengzhi continued, “Changxing Real Estate is currently divided into Changxing Real Estate and Changxing Property; Changxing Real Estate developed a total of 14 residential communities and 4 commercial office buildings last year, all of which were sold as pre-sale properties.
The total sales area was 270 million square feet, sales were HK$1.1 million, and the total profit was approximately HK$940 million.”
“Well, it seems that the profit margin is very low, but in fact it is all operated through loans and pre-sale properties, and the principal is actually not high.” Yang Wendong nodded and said.
The real estate industry is special, and if the profit margin is compared to total sales, it is generally not very high;
But this industry is highly leveraged, and if you have a good relationship with the bank, the loan will be around 80% collateral. Add to that the pre-sales of properties, and a ruthless person can leverage 1 dollars with 20 dollar.
So compared to your actual investment, the profit is generally several times higher.
Wang Fengzhi said: "Yes, there is also a case of capital recycling here. The same sum of money can be invested in multiple real estate projects."
"Yeah." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "What about Changxing Real Estate?"
Wang Fengzhi said: “Last year, Changxing Real Estate invested a lot of money to buy properties in Kwun Tong, Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay, Admiralty and even Central, with a total investment of more than HK$1 million;
Of this, about 3000 million was transferred from Changxing Industrial, and the rest were loans. Currently, the company operates in a rent-to-repay-the-loan model, which is barely enough to maintain its operations.
At present, the total commercial building area of Changxing Real Estate in Hong Kong is 550 million square feet, of which about 230 million square feet are on Hong Kong Island and 320 million square feet are on Kowloon. The total industrial building area is 140 million square feet, which is almost half on Hong Kong Island and half on Kowloon.
Yang Wendong asked again: "The self-owned area of Jiading is more than 800 million square feet, right?"
Wang Fengzhi nodded and said, "Yes, Hong Kong Land is the company with the most properties in Hong Kong, and most of its properties are located in Hong Kong Island, or in prime locations on Hong Kong Island, with Central accounting for about half of them."
"Then Changxing Real Estate still needs to work harder." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Jardine Matheson also has Wharf Holdings. Even if the area of this company is not as good as that of Hong Kong Land, it is not much different."
Although its development speed has been very fast in recent years, there is still a big gap compared with Jardine Matheson, which has controlled Hong Kong's economy for almost a hundred years.
Wang Fengzhi said: "Yes, we are still far behind in terms of real estate, but in terms of profitability, they may not be better than us; according to Jardine Matheson's public accounts, they also have many loss-making businesses, especially some overseas projects."
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "That's true, but for large companies like this, there are many ways to legally transfer profits. We can't just look at the listed financial statements."
"I understand." Wang Fengzhi continued, "But I think our group is on the same level as Jardine Matheson. If we were British, we would at least be one of the top foreign companies in Hong Kong."
"Almost, but we are not considering listing it for the time being, and we should not disclose these data to the outside world at will." Yang Wendong shook his head and said.
During the British colonial era, even though both the Hong Kong and British governments were trying to win over the Chinese, the Chinese financial groups were actually quite low-key. For example, the Ho Tung family in the 30s, although they often did things in a high-profile manner, never announced their profits and property everywhere.
On the contrary, Liao Baoshan, in order to attract idle funds, often disclosed his own wealth data, but ended up being "slaughtered".
Wang Fengzhi agreed and said, "I understand. Don't worry, Mr. Yang. The financial data within the group is strictly confidential. Except for a very small number of people, most people only know the data related to the business they are responsible for."
"Yeah." Yang Wendong nodded.
Wang Fengzhi added: "Just from our business scale and property holdings, if someone is interested in investigating, they can still guess something."
"That's fine. It doesn't matter if people outside guess correctly." Yang Wendong said indifferently: "I have already informed some Hong Kong media a long time ago, asking them not to report too much information about Changxing Group."
It is impossible to conceal a large enterprise, but public opinion can be controlled. As long as there is no discussion in the newspaper, how many people have the ability to go to various places to investigate the information of a group? It is not easy to spread it even if you know it.
In the eyes of ordinary people, they only know that a group is big, but they don’t know how big it is.
"Okay." Wang Fengzhi continued, "The next one is Changxing Shipping. As you know, Mr. Yang, the number of ships of Changxing Shipping last year, not counting the new ships purchased at the end of the year, was 37 in total.
Currently, half of the second-hand ships are used to transport water and the other half are used to transport goods for Changxing Industry. Only when they return from Europe and the United States will they bring some goods. The profit margins are not very high. After deducting the loan repayment, the annual net profit is HK$1028 million.
The five new ships were leased to a Japanese company for a total of US$5 million. After deducting revenue and loans, our own profit was US$370 million, or about HK$140 million.”
"Well, the profit margin of this new ship is indeed much higher." Yang Wendong nodded.
Many shipping companies will buy new ships when they have money, which is also the reason why new ships have higher profits. If it were not for the Middle East crisis, he would have purchased new ships like a normal shipowner.
Wang Fengzhi replied: "Yes, and the business is relatively simple, we only need to ensure the normal operation of the ship.
However, our second-hand ship business is special. The profits from shipping water and trolley cases are not too high. There is often not much cargo on the return trip from Europe and the United States, so the profit margin is not high. Otherwise, a total profit of 1500-2000 million Hong Kong dollars is not a big problem. "
"Well, it will be better when the drought in Hong Kong is over." Yang Wendong paused and said, "In addition, I will discuss with Lao Wei after the New Year to raise the freight rate appropriately. Changxing Industrial's profitability is already very strong."
The first purpose of Changxing Shipping in the early days was to transport trolley cases by itself, thereby reducing costs and ensuring Changxing's industry.
Because at that time, Changxing Industry was the foundation of the entire group, and its data needed to be made to look the best.
At present, Changxing Industry is still the most important, but considering the need to walk on multiple legs, it is also necessary.
Wang Fengzhi added: "That's good. Changxing Shipping's large purchases at the end of the year will inevitably lead to a surge in loan repayment pressure next year. Even if the profits are not transferred, it may still be necessary to mobilize funds from Changxing Industry."
"Yes, the debt pressure next year will be considerable." Yang Wendong nodded.
Before the ship is delivered, the customer does not need to pay a lot of money. Such large projects are delivered in installments, but after all, it is 5000 million US dollars. Even if a small part is paid in the early stage, it is a huge economic pressure. This is also the reason why many shipping companies cannot expand rapidly. The capital chain is not enough. That is, no matter how bold and confident they are in the shipping market, they can only expand step by step.
Wang Fengzhi smiled and said, "But as long as we can hold on and wait for the ship to be delivered, the profit will be very high, especially the rental of oil tankers, which is much higher than that of cargo ships."
"Yes, otherwise who would dare to invest so much money in it." Yang Wendong nodded and said.
A 12-ton oil tanker is worth more than 1000 million US dollars. In this era, if you cannot make a profit in three years, it means that your business is too incompetent.
The price offered by the Japanese leasing company was US$800 million a year, and Changxing Shipping was responsible for operation and management. After deducting various expenses and taxes, the net profit would be its own.
For someone like Tung Chao-Yun who takes his own business, he could earn millions of dollars, or sometimes even more, from a trip to Europe or America with a 10-ton tanker full of oil.
When the Middle East crisis occurs, the price will double or even multiply several times.
Wang Fengzhi then concluded, "Mr. Yang, Changxing Industry, real estate, and shipping are the three core businesses of Changxing Group. The next is Changxing Media. Last year, the turnover was 480 million, and the total profit was 250 million Hong Kong dollars.
The main improvement is that the daily sales of Oriental Daily News have exceeded 3 copies, and the number of listeners of commercial radio stations has tripled as the price of radios has dropped, and advertising revenue has increased a lot. "
"The profit margin is 50%." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
Wang Fengzhi replied: "This is normal. The real estate is our own. We have removed the major expenses of a general media company. In addition, we have kept up with the development of Hong Kong's economy. More people are buying newspapers and more businesses are placing advertisements. Therefore, the profit has more than doubled compared to last year."
Yang Wendong nodded: "Yes, sure."
Wang Fengzhi added: "It's a pity that Changxing Media can only operate in Hong Kong. According to the situation of Hong Kong's newspaper industry, it has basically reached its end, unless Hong Kong's population and economy develop further."
Yang Wendong said: "This year I will let Oriental Daily go overseas and enter other countries. However, this is indeed very difficult. Sing Tao Daily is considered to have done relatively well in this regard, but the results are not very ideal."
Wang Fengzhi said: “Yes, our Hong Kong newspapers are mainly to please Hong Kong citizens. When we go overseas, we have to re-edit the content, which is equivalent to starting over;
And some countries have many restrictions on overseas media.”
"Yes." Yang Wendong agreed, "So don't have too high expectations in the short term. Instead of counting on the newspaper to go overseas, it's better to count on Changxing Culture. Pure cultural stories will be more popular."
In the past, media groups that were able to develop well overseas had only one characteristic, and that was that there was a strong political force behind them, mainly American capital. Otherwise, it would be almost impossible to control the public opinion of other countries.
Britain at this time was not weak in strength, but they were unlikely to endorse Chinese capital in Hong Kong.
Wang Fengzhi said: "That's fine. My child really likes Calabash Brothers."
"Yes, animation, movies, novels, TV series, and music are the main forces for overseas exports." Yang Wendong nodded.
In fact, even for the United States, the main force for exporting culture abroad does not rely on News Corporation, but the culture hidden in Hollywood or American TV series.
After all, even if newspapers and television stations are controlled by American capital, they are still under the watchful eyes of many enemies. Even the Americans themselves face competition from DPs. But for movies and television dramas, as long as they are exported openly and do not violate the law, there is no problem.
Wang Fengzhi added: “At Changxing Culture, the sales of comic weekly, including Wanwan, is about 3 copies per issue, but the various stickers launched have sold more than 600 million copies;
Both the turnover and the profit far exceed the comics themselves."
"Of course." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "These are just stickers. The toys haven't come out yet, and they will enter the Chinese areas in Southeast Asia after the new year."
A sticker costs basically only a few cents. Because of its cheapness and its characteristic of being a "derivative product" that is easy for people to buy, its sales volume is particularly high.
Moreover, once the comic weekly is sold out, there will be no follow-up business unless you publish a single volume. However, stickers can be sold endlessly. Some people will buy the same ones repeatedly, and you can also produce different designs.
The same goes for toys.
Wang Fengzhi smiled and said, "That's even better. Last year, Changxing Culture's total profit was about 20 Hong Kong dollars, which is not a lot, but looking at the market trend, it is estimated that it will surpass Changxing Media next year."
"Well, for this kind of new industry, the main thing to look at is the trend; profit is not important," Yang Wendong said.
Changxing Real Estate, Industry and Shipping are engaged in capital operations, which means they need to borrow a large amount of money, so profits are very important.
Others pay more attention to future trends.
"Okay, now we only have Honor Electronics, Watsons and Carrefour left." Wang Fengzhi continued to report: "Honor Electronics is currently profitable, relying on electric mosquito swatters and water kettles, and made a profit of 37 Hong Kong dollars last year.
One reason is that they are about to expand into markets outside of Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the other is that they are also starting to sell rice cookers.
Looking at sales alone this year, the benefits will definitely increase significantly, but the R&D investment in the United States is an uncertain number, which I cannot confirm. "
"Well, it's okay. The electronics industry is a research and development-intensive enterprise. Investment from the United States is inevitable." Yang Wendong said nonchalantly: "It's okay to lose money in the past few years. As long as these research and developments are successful, they will definitely be able to pay back ten or a hundred times in the future."
What the United States is developing now is, of course, the magnetron for microwave ovens. This thing actually already exists, but it is difficult to miniaturize it.
For an electronics company, having a direction is only one of the requirements. Being able to produce the products in the minds of time travelers is also a must.
Traditional electronics companies, even the future Sony, Apple, and Samsung, need to carefully choose the technology direction when investing in research and development, because if they make a mistake, they will suffer heavy losses and waste the most important time. For example, in the early 21st century, many Japanese giants gambled on plasma TVs, and 20 years later, Japanese automobiles gambled on hydrogen energy.
In order to avoid risks, many large companies may even invest in several directions at the same time, even though they know that some of the directions may fail.
But after the time travelers know about the discovery, they will invest all their efforts and the research and development costs will be reduced a lot. This is the advantage of time travelers in technological research and development.
The only pity is that Hong Kong lacks electronic talent, and currently can only go to the United States to carry out this kind of research and development.
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(End of this chapter)