Time flies, and more than a year has passed in the blink of an eye.
Monday, January 4, 1965.
On the first working day after New Year's Day, Lin Zhichao first came to Global Shipping Group, which also symbolizes that currently 'Global Shipping Group' is the most important asset of the Lin family.
At present, the total load capacity of Global Shipping Group's ships is 6 million tons, including 400,000 tons of second-hand cargo ships and 5.6 million tons of new ships; among the new ships, oil tankers account for 80%, which means that Global Shipping The direction of development has completely changed over the years - more tankers and fewer bulk carriers.
At the same time, Global Shipping's ships 'under construction' have a total deadweight of 800,000 tons, all of which were ordered in the first half of last year. The reason why we did not build more was because we planned to save more for next year (1966) and because TWA already had a lot of debt.
In terms of finance, Global Shipping's debt is US$110 million, including the final payment for 800,000 tons of ships under construction (which will be launched within half a year).
Global Shipping's profit last year (1964) was US$75 million, and this year it is expected to exceed US$85 million. It seems that it is expected to pay off 80% of the debt, but in fact it is not because it has to build at least 800,000 tons of ships this year, which is equivalent to new liabilities, because shipbuilding costs have now increased by about 8%.
Generally speaking, Global Shipping's current fleet net assets are about 550 to 600 million U.S. dollars, and it is growing very fast. This is due to high-quality customer resources, full support from banks and shipyards.
The debt ratio is less than 20%, which is due to the solid foundation laid by Global Shipping in the early stage; especially in shipbuilding from 1959 to 1961, almost all of it was deposits rather than loans.
Global Shipping Group also has many associated companies, including Asia Shipping (45%), Longfeng Investment (40%), Global Bahamas (33.33%), and Global Bermuda (33.33%). Among them, Asia Shipping and Longfeng Investment are listed companies. The load capacity of the ships of these companies, not included in the Global Shipping Group for the time being, probably has a load capacity of nearly 1 million tons.
As for Universal Shipping, Universal Shipping accounts for 60% of its shares, so it is a subsidiary, so it has always been included in the total tonnage of Universal Group; it accounts for 30% of the group's load capacity, which means it has a load capacity of about 1.8 million tons.
"Boss, it's time for the conference room."
"Okay, I'll be right away."
Lin Zhichao retracted his thoughts and walked towards the group meeting room. Today's meeting was a group meeting, and senior foreigners including Bobby Blair also rushed back from overseas to participate.
Currently, Global Shipping has three foreign senior executives, namely the two heads of business in Europe and America, and Bobby Blair, the group vice president. These three senior executives often come to Hong Kong to work, especially Bobby, the vice president. This naturally encourages them to participate in the group's affairs and strengthen their emotional ties with the group.
After arriving at the conference room, Lin Zhichao sat in the group chairman's seat and announced the start of the meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting, everyone reported on the work they were responsible for and their work plans for the new year. Lin Zhichao listened and took notes. He actually doesn't need to record it, it can be stored in his brain, but he still chooses to record it.
After everyone's work report was completed, Lin Zhichao began to ask: "What is our current proportion on oil tankers and cargo ships? Do you have anything to say or any suggestions?"
In fact, these issues are all Lin Zhichao's autocratic decisions, and no one has the right to decide at all. However, Lin Zhichao likes to raise issues and wait for senior executives to discuss before making his own decision.
Bobby immediately said: "The proportion of oil tankers is indeed too large! Our Global Shipping Group is not like other shipping companies - we have weak funds and small scale, and we need to focus on a certain type of ship. Although the proportion of oil tankers in merchant ships has soared over the years , has grown to nearly 40% from 10% in the 1930s and less than 20% in the early 1950s; however, it should be pointed out that cargo ships still occupy the mainstream of maritime transport. If oil tankers want to occupy half of it, I am afraid it will have to wait until the 1980s. According to the current trend."
The implication is that the proportion of cargo ships can still be increased.
Not to be outdone, Feng Yongfa said: "We still have 400,000 tons of second-hand cargo ships, and more than half of them will be eliminated in two years. Only a few Victory ships may be able to survive for a few more years. So the proportion of cargo ships in the future, It will continue to decrease. Although there is Dong Haoyun in Hong Kong, and his cargo ships account for a larger proportion, we should not be merciful. After all, our debt ratio is very low; for example, Dong Haoyun's debt ratio is at least 50%, and his total tonnage is probably only More than one million tons, and there are also a large number of second-hand ships.”
Everyone's suggestions are that the total load capacity of cargo ships needs to be increased. As for the additional cargo ships, there are various leasing methods such as leasing out and fixed lines.
Lin Zhichao wrote something on the paper and finally said: "Well, what everyone said makes sense! This year, my goal is to build a ship of 800,000 tons, and just build a cargo ship with a load capacity of 200,000 tons, a little more."
Everyone was stunned and thought to themselves, boss, how much you dislike cargo ships. Speaking of which, global shipping relies on cargo ships to develop! Now that everyone has discussed this, the shipbuilding ratio has been increased to 25%.
Seeing everyone's expressions full of doubts, Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "It's not that I don't want to develop bulk, but container transportation will rise. As far as I know, container transportation from the United States to Europe is about to start, and we will also join the first camp by then. And The rise of containers will inevitably reduce the demand for bulk carriers, so a slight increase is a reasonable plan."
Despite Lin Zhichao's participation, the development of container transportation has not been smooth in recent years. Malcolm McLean worked hard and finally prepared to open container transportation to the United States in the Netherlands in Europe, probably in the recent period.
Once this container route is operational, absolute progress will be made, and the world will enter the container era. As for container transportation in Hong Kong, theoretically it is not Lin Zhichao’s turn to do it.
Generally speaking, two terminals, such as Wharf and Blue Chimney (Taikoo), can be converted into temporary container terminals, which can ensure that the United States uses Hong Kong as its base to transport containers to Vietnam.
To truly develop a container transport terminal, the Hong Kong government needs to set up a 'committee' and then make a report on a series of issues such as prospects, site selection, etc. It may take two or three years before a formal tender is issued.
Therefore, Lin Zhichao does not have many advantages at all. Hong Kong is not something he can do whatever he wants.
Of course, Lin Zhichao is not worried. Whether it is Wharf or Hutchison Matheson, they will all be his own, so the container terminal shares of these two investments will be brought under Lin Zhichao's side.
Just pick up something ready-made, why go and show off your skills too early.
Of course, he has already made an agreement with Malcolm McLean of Sea-Land Transport to jointly bid for Hong Kong’s container terminal in the future. Therefore, once the bidding is held, Lin Zhichao can also participate in one share.
“The boss is very considerate!”
"An increase of 200,000 tons of freighters a year is a considerable increase."
Soon his subordinates were convinced and no longer insisted on their own ideas. The reason is very simple. The first is that adding 200,000 tons of cargo ships per year is also very large. The second is that they know that the boss is the biggest supporter of container transportation.
The next day, Lin Zhichao came to the Cheung Kong Holdings office.
We still held a group meeting to summarize and plan. After all, it was a new year.
Cheung Kong Holdings’ current assets are:
1.22 million square feet of reserve land, Yingzhi Building, Poly Building, Global Building, Midea Building, International Building (under construction), Miramar Hotel, Miramar Shopping Center, Causeway Bay Daimaru Department Store, Xintiandi Shopping Center, Sing Tao Daimaru Department Store, Lychee Garden amusement park and a large number of scattered rental properties.
In terms of subsidiaries and associated companies, there are more than 50 descendant companies including Poly Construction, Anderson Daya, Yangtze Finance, Hung Hom Tunnel (50%), etc.
Last year, Cheung Kong Holdings made a profit of HK$80 million, with a total liquidity of HK$260 million. In terms of liabilities, except for its subsidiary Anderson Daya, which is still in debt (not included in the group's finances for the time being), Cheung Kong Holdings has no debt.
With such a large amount of cash flow, it is impossible for Lin Zhichao to store it all in the bank, or in one bank.
Lin Zhichao converted 100 million Hong Kong dollars into cash and stored it directly in the underground treasure room of the villa. Of course, the money was the result of long-term withdrawals; and the remaining funds were deposited in Hang Seng Bank, 50 million, and HSBC. Guobaotong Bank 40 million, Standard Chartered 20 million.
After the executives finished reporting, Lin Zhichao began to speak: "Have you noticed that the Hang Seng Index has only increased by about 3.5% in half a year since it was released in July last year. What does this mean?"
Zhou Fuzhao immediately said: "This shows that Hong Kong's economic growth is weak and has encountered a bottleneck."
Everyone agrees with this view!
Hu Zhaoxu also said: "The price of commercial land in Central has risen to HK$2,000-2,500 per square foot, the price of commercial land in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon has risen to HK$1,000-1,500 per square foot, and the price of residential land in the city center of Hong Kong and Kowloon has risen to HK$250-300 per square foot. , industrial land in Kwun Tong has risen to 120 Hong Kong dollars per square foot, Hong Kong residential land has also risen to 50 to 70 Hong Kong dollars per square foot, and high-end residential units in Causeway Bay cost 200,000 Hong Kong dollars each. The prices are already very high! But it seems that it will soon There hasn’t been much growth in a year, and it feels like it can’t rise any more!”
Hu Zhaoxu also said: "The price of commercial land in Central has risen to HK$2,000-2,500 per square foot, the price of commercial land in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon has risen to HK$1,000-1,500 per square foot, and the price of residential land in the city center of Hong Kong and Kowloon has risen to HK$250-300 per square foot. , industrial land in Kwun Tong has risen to 120 Hong Kong dollars per square foot, Hong Kong residential land has also risen to 50 to 70 Hong Kong dollars per square foot, and high-end residential units in Causeway Bay cost 200,000 Hong Kong dollars each. The prices are already very high! But it seems that it will soon There hasn’t been much growth in a year, and it feels like it can’t rise any more!”
Lin Zhichao said: "Last year we sold 1,100 houses, how long did it take?"
Hu Zhaoxu replied: "We have built Telford Gardens at the beginning of the year, but the remaining 1,100 residential units took ten months to sell. It is no longer as easy to sell as before."
Speaking of this, many people understand that the boss will not do these summaries and investigations for no reason.
Huang Hongchang gave a final tip: "Since September 1962, the number of buildings started in Hong Kong has skyrocketed. Everyone is rushing to start construction on their land before January 1, 1966. This can increase the number of buildings by 20%. Floor space. Therefore, starting from 1962, the number of residential units completed every year has skyrocketed. In 1962, it was about 11,000, in 1963, it was about 15,000, last year (1964), it was probably more than 20,000, and this year (1965) should be The maximum number in a year may exceed 25,000. In Hong Kong, new buildings are about to be completed everywhere at this time!"
One word popped into everyone's mind - supply and demand imbalance. Thinking back to the boss's timely stoppage in 1957, could it be that there is another sharp decline now?
Here are the senior executives of Yangtze River Industries. They usually follow Lin Zhichao and know the dynamics of the group, so they have already made guesses; but it was not until today that they realized that the matter seemed to be more serious.
Cheung Kong Industries has stopped developing new properties since last year. Is this what the boss is predicting?
Lin Zhichao said at this time: "I like to use data and facts for analysis, regardless of whether there is a real estate crisis, but it is not appropriate to develop new properties at this time; although Yangtze River Industrial has sufficient financial strength, I do not want to take risks. As for the 20% less Residential area is not considered. Therefore, in recent years, Yangtze River Industrial has used commercial real estate income to support the company, and I plan to invest in five-star hotels and shopping malls in Xingdao. I will announce the plan later."
It just so happened that in the three years from 1965 to 1967, Lin Zhichao planned to go to Singapore to develop. Over the years, in order to maintain the relationship with Lawyer Li, he invested in plastic flowers, wigs, toys and other factories in Singapore. The scale was not large. He also attracted other people from Hong Kong to invest in some textile and garment factories in Singapore. Of course, the investment was not large.
Generally speaking, Lin Zhichao's efforts over the years have gained Lawyer Li's trust and laid a foundation for subsequent commercial real estate investments.
Lin Zhichao is definitely not very aggressive in Singapore. After all, the strong dragon cannot suppress the local snake, so his plan is a five-star hotel and two shopping malls on Orchard Road; and the entire Orchard Road in later generations will be about 20 Multiple shopping malls (including office buildings or hotels).
When everyone heard the boss's plan, they relaxed a little. There are no new development real estate projects, but at least Cheung Kong Industries still has a lot of commercial real estate to manage. Everyone will not be idle. After all, there are hundreds of people in the company, and it will be a big deal if they are idle. At the same time, the boss’s investment in Xingdao shows that the offensive Sex is still there, still progressing.
The next day, Lin Zhichao came to Yangtze River Industrial Group again and held a meeting with senior executives to summarize.
Anyone who is familiar with the boss knows that every year after New Year's Day, Lin Zhichao must immediately summarize the past year and make plans for the new year. Because of this, senior executives must organize information and ideas a week in advance. .
Chen Linyuan: "Last year, Yangtze Wigs made a profit of HK$3.2 million, almost all of which came from high-end wigs and agency business. We plan to completely cut off the production process of ordinary wigs this year and adopt the agency model. The high-end wig brand 'Sleek' will serve as our long-term research and development and investment objects”
Lin Zhichao nodded with satisfaction. He thought that the wig business was going to be bad, but he didn't expect that Chen Linyuan was a talented person who made high-end wigs into a brand and exuded a second spring. If this trend continues, the 'Sleek' brand will continue to develop, and it will continue to develop in Europe, America and Asia. Expand business.
Of course, this does not mean that Chen Linyuan can take all the credit. After all, it was Lin Zhichao who organized the high-end wigs, and Chen Linyuan only developed it.
Lin Zhichao said: "In fact, wigs are still very popular in Europe and the United States. The Beatles have been coming to Hong Kong to perform and promote in recent years. The reason why the profits of ordinary wigs have dropped sharply is that the threshold for wigs is low, and there are too many wig practitioners in Hong Kong. No, we don’t have any advantage, after all, labor is expensive.”
When Chen Linyuan saw what his boss said, he was immediately moved. My boss is a very sensible person, and he is very open-minded about things that are impossible to reverse; of course, if you don't do something well, your boss will also scold you.
Subsequently.
Tao Derong: "The profit of Yangtze Plastic Factory plummeted again last year, with only 9 million Hong Kong dollars left, and the decline has not abated. The reason is that plastic flowers are no longer popular in Europe and the United States, and there are about 1,500 large and small plastic flower factories in Hong Kong. To an incredible extent, the Yangtze Plastic Factory currently has 3,000 workers and about 80 cooperative factories. This year, the Yangtze Plastic Factory is expected to lay off another 1,500 workers, either dismissing them or assigning them to the Yangtze Toy Factory.”
Everyone was in a bad mood. Yangtze Plastic Factory was undoubtedly the one with the fastest and sharpest decline; from the peak profit of 2,500 Hong Kong dollars, it fell to 9 million Hong Kong dollars in just three years, and the profit dropped by more than 5 million in one year.
Lin Zhichao said calmly: "The boat is easy to turn around, and this is reflected in the wigs and plastic flowers. Those small factories use second-hand equipment and hire some child labor and temporary workers to lower labor prices. Their costs are so low that we can't compete." . Because of this, the large factories in these two industries have to close down first, and the market is eaten up by these people. However, the life of small factories may not be easy either. The competition between them becomes more and more intense, and eventually they will be destroyed."
The number of plastic flower factories will continue to increase, maybe by the early 1970s, there will be no problem reaching 2,000. But large factories could not survive until 1967.
It is impossible for large factories to lower wages too much, because there are strikes all the time in Hong Kong, with more than a dozen non-violent strikes a year. Almost all of them are large and medium-sized factories. In the end, the boss has to compromise because he has to deliver the goods.
As for small factories, how can they go on strike? If you don’t work, get out immediately.
Tao Derong said: "But within two years, is it unnecessary to cut off all plastic flower production?"
Lin Zhichao waved his hand and said: "There is no need to discuss this. We can only keep the agency business."
He is afraid that the more people there are, the bigger the trouble will be in the years to come!
Tao Derong no longer objected. He knew that the boss must have his own worries. As for his future, the worst he could do was return to a zipper or toy factory, and his boss would not treat him badly.
then.
Ke Yan Pinghui reported: "Because of the surge in exports of Rubik's Cube, Yangtze Toy Factory's profit reached 44 million last year, of which the export profit of Rubik's Cube reached HK$15 million. Yangtze Toy Factory currently has 6,800 workers, and it already has four 'Bond Toys' , including three in Hong Kong and one in Sing Tao."
Lin Zhichao showed a comfortable smile. Yangtze Toy Factory is performing well, which means that Audrey Toys' status in the United States is getting stronger. This company has become the largest toy factory in the United States.
Of course, the Rubik's Cube is only a product distributed by Audrey Toys Company, so Yangtze Toys still makes the most profits.
Lin Zhichao's son "Lin Ruidong" published "You Can Restore the Rubik's Cube" early last year and became a best-seller in Europe and the United States. It sold more than 500,000 copies in just one year, which made Lin Zhichao very happy; this is the first book to cultivate his son's business talent. In one step, Lin Ruidong will also have a business empire in the future.
"Well, the toy industry is performing well. This industry is a long-term development undertaking. The more developed the world economy is, the brighter the toy industry's prospects will be." Lin Zhichao commented.
Everyone knows that the boss values the zipper and toy industries the most, and also considers growth issues.
Next.
Bao Chunlaihui reported: "The zipper industry grew last year, thanks to the development of the world's garment industry and the Westernization of Asian clothing; therefore, the profit of Yangtze Zipper last year was HK$45 million."
Cheng Yuanxionghui reported: "Zhongtian Steel's profit last year was HK$13 million, which benefited from the rapid development of Hong Kong's construction industry."
The remaining Midea Electric Appliances has a profit of HK$1.5 million, which is better than nothing, and its development is not the best in Hong Kong. It has just replaced a new general manager, Li Zhenlong, to see if it can improve again.
Although I don’t expect to develop too early, I at least want to be the leader among my peers. That would be reasonable.
Finally, Lin Zhichao came to a conclusion.
Last year, Cheung Kong Industrial Group created a profit of HK$116 million, spent HK$35 million on investment and R&D, and left a net profit of HK$81 million. The Yangtze River Industrial Group's cash flow has reached 320 million, and the funds are mainly deposited in Wanguo Baotong, Chase Bank, Bank of East Asia, Standard Chartered Bank, and HSBC. Lin Zhichao also exchanged 20 million U.S. dollars (112 million Hong Kong dollars) and placed them in his villa inside.
Therefore, at this time, Lin Zhichao had 100 million Hong Kong dollars and 20 million US dollars in his villa respectively, making him the king of cash.
There is really too much money, and it is not reassuring to put it in the bank, because it may be too exaggerated.
At this time, there must be dozens of Chinese tycoons or families in Hong Kong with a net worth of over 100 million. After all, Tai, Liao Baoshan, Ma Jincan, Zhang Yuliang, Peng Guozhen, Hui Aizhou, Dong Yunhao, etc., almost all have assets of over 100 million. Billionaires are no longer enough. strange. But there are probably only a handful of people who can produce a cash flow of 100 million, and perhaps only Lin Zhichao.
Lin Zhichao's cash flow is a full HK$580 million, not including the US stock market value of overseas investments.
Of course, his liabilities also amount to more than 500 million Hong Kong dollars, but those are the liabilities of Global Shipping, so they are nothing!
(End of chapter)
