Chapter 777 Opportunities in the European Market

Chapter 777 Opportunities in the European Market

Chapter 777 Opportunities in the European Market

The popularity of Whampoa Garden is just the tip of the iceberg of Hong Kong's real estate market. In an era when speculation in real estate and stocks can make much more money than working normally, many capable and courageous people have poured into it, which has made the situation even worse for many factories that are already short of talent.
As the largest factory in Hong Kong, Changxing Group was naturally also affected;

At the end of August, Changxing Group arranged a comprehensive high-level meeting, and the heads of several subsidiaries all came to the scene;
After discussing the business, this topic came up. Wei Zetao first said, "Recently, more than 20 managers and senior engineers have left my company. It may not seem like a lot, but it involves a lot of important projects or department management.
The reason for this is that these people have worked for me for about ten years and have accumulated a lot of savings. In addition, the group once suggested buying houses in 67 and 74, and also provided cheap bank loans, which caused their net worth to skyrocket. Collecting rent from a few houses can make more money than working. Some of them also made a lot of money by speculating in the stock market, so they naturally quit their jobs to concentrate on these things. "

"I never thought that the original group welfare was intended for ordinary workers, but the top management benefited more from it." Yang Wendong smiled helplessly;
No matter how good the benefits of Changxing Group are, they are certainly not as good as social inflation. In addition, due to some company needs, Yang Wendong also encouraged employees to buy houses at the right time;

On the one hand, they can buy a place to live cheaply, so they don’t have to pay a high price to be ripped off; on the other hand, Hang Seng Bank also needs more high-quality customers during the economic crisis, so it is a win-win situation;

However, the senior executives of the group believed in Yang Wendong. With his encouragement, and if they had enough funds and were bold enough to go all in, they could truly be financially free, easily beating the treatment that Changxing Group could offer.
There is no way to avoid this.

Zhou Haoran said, "It's normal. Even if we don't offer these benefits, as long as these people have vision and courage, they will naturally enter the real estate market and the stock market. Including all of us here, you should have invested a lot of money in the stock market and real estate, right?"

Everyone at the scene nodded one after another. They had more funds, were able to access the group's policies on the real estate market, and had a good relationship with Yang Wendong. Naturally, they could follow Yang Wendong's judgment to invest in the real estate market, with a higher accuracy rate and return rate.
It's just that they have already reached the top of their positions, and even if they make a lot of money in the stock market or the housing market, it is impossible for them to give up their current jobs. But for the middle-level managers, many people are still unwilling to work, and prefer to be free or be their own boss.

Wei Zetao said: "Fortunately, the number is not large. We have already started the plan of having backup personnel for important positions. The impact will not be significant in the short term, but I am worried that in the long run, will the situation deteriorate further?"

"If the real estate and stock markets continue to be crazy, there is nothing we can do. People tend to move up, and that's human nature." Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "We need to continue to increase the training of talent reserves, and then give middle-level managers a certain amount of freedom, such as asking for leave. Many people are struggling, and if we restrict them too much, they will leave in large numbers."

Wei Zetao smiled helplessly: "It feels like we all surrendered to them."

"Not to them, but to the market." Yang Wendong said, "However, the real estate and stock markets in Hong Kong have become like this, which is not a good thing for the manufacturing industry. Therefore, it is appropriate to transfer production capacity to other parts of South Asia to avoid any changes in Hong Kong."

Historically, rather than saying that the mainland's reform and opening up took away Hong Kong's manufacturing industry, it would be better to say that it gave Hong Kong's manufacturing industry an opportunity to survive abroad;
When all the capable people in Hong Kong are obsessed with real estate and stock speculation, any manufacturing industry will come to a halt. The result is that many ordinary people's assets will be forced to depreciate for no reason.

The deindustrialization of Hong Kong is almost irreversible in the next decade, and Yang Wendong will not go against the trend. At most, it will be enough to keep some industries in Hong Kong that do not have high requirements for the industrial chain or can be integrated with the future Deepsea City. This is also to help some lower-class people who cannot find jobs.

Xiangfangmin said, "Mr. Yang, Taiwan and Malaysia are still easy to deal with, but Singapore seems to have a similar situation recently, and the local real estate and financial sectors have also risen sharply."

"Well, I know that, but relatively speaking, it's better than Hong Kong." Yang Wendong also nodded and said, "The Singapore government at least knows the importance of industry. It has set up Temasek to invest in heavy industry and upgrade industries. It's much better than Hong Kong. The industries there will still be more or less preserved, so it won't have much impact on us in the short term."

Although Singapore has a small population, its future industries such as oil, electronics, biopharmaceuticals, and precision machinery are still very good. The foundation lies in the large-scale investment of this era. Unlike Hong Kong, it is only obsessed with selling land to make money;

Although Yang Wendong could also do something similar, he would only do it for his own industry. He would not force others to stay in Hong Kong if it was not appropriate, and he had no administrative power. Many industries were inconvenient to operate. In addition, Hong Kong lacked water, electricity and talent, so he could only upgrade his industries in moderation and would have to move to the mainland in the future.

Fang Xianming said: "Yes, the Lee family of Singapore has done a really good job in this area."

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "The Hong Kong government is British after all. They can't see that far ahead. Besides, the UK has been in a mess recently. How can they support Hong Kong?"

"I also heard that there was a severe strike in the UK. Has our factory been affected?" Yang Wendong asked;

Although my investment in the UK is not large, it is the largest industrial investment destination compared to other European and American countries, and this is also to match the investment in Thatcher, plus considerations of the European and American markets;

Wei Zetao replied: "It has an impact. The strike in the UK is going crazy now. Not only traditional workers, but also police, medical staff and civil servants have joined the strike. Many patients have died because they could not get treatment. It is a complete mess.

Although our factory is doing its best to maintain operations, transportation, water, electricity, and suppliers often have problems, so production capacity and quality are affected. Some factories over there have already stopped operations. "

"With things like this, Britain will probably have to deindustrialize too." Yang Wendong shook his head helplessly;

In fact, if Thatcher had not vigorously suppressed trade unions and privatized state-owned enterprises after coming to power, Britain would probably have declined even more severely;

Although Thatcher received mixed reviews in the future, at this time, what she did was absolutely right. There were many problems in the privatization process, but removing the tumor inevitably comes at a price;

Fang Xianming said, "Mr. Yang, the UK has been forced to borrow money from the IMF. I don't know how much, but it won't be a small amount. I think the IMF will force the pound to depreciate. How about we do something in the foreign exchange market?"

"It's not necessary. If you play too little, you won't make much. If you play too much, the risk is too great. Even if it's financial investment, we don't play this kind of hedging with extremely high risks." Yang Wendong shook his head.

Knowing that a currency or stock is going to depreciate is completely different from knowing when it will happen;
Just like the economic crisis in Hong Kong in recent years, knowing when and when it would break out made all the difference in operations;

Although Yang Wendong also knew that the pound would continue to depreciate in the future, he was not sure about the time period. If he invested blindly without the ability of Soros, he would still easily suffer losses. As a time traveler, even if he had to go all in, he would go all in when he was sure of it, not this kind of situation.

Fang Xianming agreed: "Okay."

Yang Wendong then looked at Liu Huayu and said, "Britain is in such a mess right now, is there any impact on retail?"

Liu Huayu replied: "This has little impact for now. A few years ago, strikes affected supermarkets in the UK, so I built several large warehouses in the UK and shipped goods from Hong Kong there in advance.
For local logistics, I also found some Hong Kong Chinese to drive trucks to ensure the smooth operation of the supermarket's unique logistics.

Although it is not completely unaffected, most of the goods in our supermarkets are still fine."

"That's good." Yang Wendong nodded, and then said, "Lao Liu, I want to take this opportunity to continue to expand the scale of the supermarket in the UK. What do you think?"

"Increasing against the trend?" Liu Huayu immediately understood: "Mr. Yang, are you trying to seize the market while other supermarkets don't have enough goods?"

"Yes, what do you think?" Yang Wendong looked at everyone.

Fang Xianming reminded: "Mr. Yang, in this situation, investing against the trend can indeed gain a higher market share, but the current situation in the UK is too chaotic. If the chaos continues for a few years, I am afraid the entire country will be ruined;
Although it was once the empire on which the sun never set, Britain has been in decline in both military and economic terms over the past few decades, and it is not impossible for it to become the next Spain. "

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "I know, but don't forget that I also invested in Thatcher. Her governing philosophy can solve many of Britain's existing problems. Once she comes to power, under the reforms, even if the British economy cannot rise again, it will still be no problem for it to maintain the level of a developed country."

This is the foundation of the Western colonial countries. They are too strong. With the same economic turmoil, many European countries have been in turmoil for decades without any major problems, while these South American countries are completely ruined after a few years of turmoil.
At least before he traveled through time, no matter how bad Britain's economy was, it was still a developed country, and there was no big risk in opening a supermarket there. Relatively speaking, the most difficult thing is how to successfully open a supermarket in a foreign country.

Fang Xianming said: "Then we are just taking a gamble."

"Yes, ZZ itself is a gamble. If we win, we will make a lot of money. If we lose, we won't lose much. The worst that can happen is that we can just withdraw from the UK. No matter which ruling party in the UK, they will definitely not dare to prevent us from withdrawing." Yang Wendong said with a faint smile.

Under normal social background, except for India, most countries dare not deal too much with foreign capital. If they deal too much, other foreign capital will not dare to invest here. Of course, foreign capital itself must be legal. If it is caught illegal, there is nothing that can be done.

Thatcher's victory was basically inevitable. One reason was that British society needed her radical governing plan. Another reason was that Yang Wendong did not believe that what he did in Hong Kong could influence British politics. That was almost impossible.

Liu Huayu agreed: "Okay, then I will go to the UK tomorrow to see how to expand our supermarket industry."

"Well, come up with a few plans and we'll negotiate when the time comes." Yang Wendong went on to say, "But no matter what the plan is, our supermarkets should mainly be leased, not built ourselves. This strategy can be implemented throughout Europe and the United States."

In Asia, the real estate market has unlimited potential in the future, so it is natural to own properties, including in the mainland in the future;
However, Europe and the United States are developed countries. Although the economy and housing prices will rise in the future, the increase will be limited, and there are property taxes every year. In this case, there is no need to spend a lot of money to hold the property in the early stage.

The trouble with leasing is negotiating rent in the future, but the advantage is that the initial investment is small and you can expand quickly. If you really lose money, the cost of closing down will be much lower.

Whether to own or rent is decided based on different situations. There is no absolute right or wrong.

"Okay, Mr. Yang, the rental laws in Europe and the United States provide good protection for tenants. Once the contract is signed, at least they will be safe during the contract period." Liu Huayu said.

"Okay, that's it." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "If our supermarket in Europe can grow in the future, it will also facilitate the export of Asian goods."

Since the United States has Wal-Mart, there is no need for him to compete with this giant. It is not a local battle, and the possibility of winning is very small. Besides, he is also a major shareholder of Wal-Mart.
As for Europe, although there are also several large supermarkets, it actually means that there is enough space for other brands;

At this time, Liu Huayu asked again: "Mr. Yang, in addition to the UK, do we need to consider the German market? Germany's economy has been developing very rapidly recently."

"Germany can also consider it. You can send someone to do research. Even if you don't invest this year, you can invest in a few years." Yang Wendong nodded and said;
Carrefour is now expanding fairly well in Southeast Asia, so it is natural that it is considering making appropriate investments overseas. Europe is the next target market, but there are too many countries, so it is only necessary to prioritize a few.

Liu Huayu agreed: "Okay."

Yang Wendong added: “Speaking of Germany, their machinery industry is very developed. I remember that Asia is relatively lacking in various industrial equipment.
Richard Xin, Hutchison's trade is to import various equipment from Europe and the United States. In this area, you should explore German suppliers and cooperate more with them. At least you should fully understand the situation there. "

The reform and opening-up will be implemented soon, and the domestic demand for overseas equipment is huge, but the cost of communicating with them individually is very high and they are easy to be cheated, which is exactly what they need a middleman.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
I discussed with the editor. The traffic is too poor. I will try to change the title. Please understand.
(End of this chapter)