The Birth of the Hong Kong Island Family.

Chapter 307 [More than a year has passed]

Time flies, and more than a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

Monday, August 1965, 1.

On the first working day after New Year's Day, Lin Zhichao first came to the Global Shipping Group, which also symbolized that the "Global Shipping Group" is currently the most important asset of the Lin family.

At present, the total load capacity of the ships of the Global Shipping Group is 600 million tons, including 40 tons of second-hand cargo ships, and 560 million tons of new ships; among the new ships, oil tankers account for 80%. The direction of development has undergone a radical change over the years - more tankers and fewer bulk carriers.

At the same time, the total deadweight of the ships 'under construction' of Global Shipping reached 80 tons, all of which were ordered in the first half of last year.The reason why more were not built was because it was planned to build more next year (1966) and because the debt of World Shipping was already high.

In terms of finance, the debt of Global Shipping is 1.1 million US dollars, including the final payment of 80 tons of ships under construction (which will be launched within half a year).

Last year (1964), global shipping made a profit of 7500 million U.S. dollars, and this year it is expected to break through 8500 million U.S. dollars.It seems that 80% of the debt is expected to be paid off, but in fact it is not the case, because ships with a deadweight of at least 80 tons have to be built this year, which is equivalent to new liabilities, because the cost of shipbuilding has increased by about 8%.

Generally speaking, the current fleet net assets of Global Shipping are about 5.5 to 6 million US dollars, and the growth rate is extremely fast.This is due to the high-quality customer resources, the full support of banks and shipyards.

The debt ratio is less than 20%, which is due to the solid foundation laid in the early stage of global shipping; especially in the shipbuilding from 1959 to 1961, almost all of the deposits were used instead of loans.

Global Shipping Group also has many associated companies, Asia Shipping (45%), Longfeng Investment (40%), Global Bahamas (33.33%), Global Bermuda (33.33%), of which Asia Shipping and Longfeng Investment are listed companies.The deadweight of ships of these companies is not counted in the global shipping group for the time being, and it probably has a deadweight of nearly 100 million tons.

As for Universal Shipping, Global Shipping accounts for 60% of its shares, so it is a subsidiary company, so it has been included in the total tonnage of Universal Group; it accounts for 30% of the group's deadweight, that is, it has a deadweight of about 180 million tons.

"Boss, it's time for the conference room."

"Okay, I'll be right there."

Lin Zhichao withdrew his thoughts and walked towards the group conference room. Today's meeting is a group meeting, including Bobby Blair and other high-level foreigners who also came back from overseas to attend.

At present, Global Shipping has three foreign executives, who are in charge of the European and American business, and Bobby Blair, the vice president of the group.These three high-level executives often come to work in Hong Kong, especially Bobby, the vice president. This naturally encourages them to participate in the affairs of the group and strengthen their emotional connection with the group.

After coming to the meeting room, Lin Zhichao sat in the chair of the group and announced the start of the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, everyone reported on the work they were responsible for and the work plan for the new year. Lin Zhichao recorded it while listening.In fact, he doesn't need to record it, and 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: "Currently, we account for oil tankers and cargo ships. Do you have anything to say, or do you have any suggestions?"

In fact, these issues are all Lin Zhichao's dictatorial decisions, and everyone has no right to make decisions at all.However, Lin Zhichao likes to ask questions, and he will decide by himself after the senior executives discuss it.

Bobby then said: "The proportion of oil tankers is indeed too high! Our global shipping group is not like other shipping companies - we have weak capital and small scale, and we need to focus on a certain type of ships. Although the proportion of oil tankers in commercial shipping has been soaring over the years , from 30% in the 10s and less than 50% in the early 20s, it has increased to nearly 40%; but it should be pointed out that cargo ships still occupy the mainstream shipping, and oil tankers may have to wait until the 80s if they want to occupy half of it. According to the current trend talk."

The implication is that the proportion of cargo ships can still be increased.

Not to be outdone, Feng Yongfa said: "We still have 40 tons of second-hand cargo ships, and almost half of them will be phased out in two years. Only a few Shengli ships may last for a few more years. So the proportion of cargo ships next, It will decrease. Although there is Dong Haoyun in Hong Kong, and his cargo ships account for a large proportion, we should not be lenient. After all, our debt ratio is very low; like Dong Haoyun’s debt ratio is at least 50%, and his total tonnage is probably only More than 100 million tons, and there are also a large number of second-hand ships."

Everyone's suggestion is to increase the total load capacity of the cargo ship. As for the increased cargo ship, there are various leasing methods such as leasing out and fixed routes.

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 80 tons, and I will build a cargo ship with a deadweight of 20 tons, a little more."

Everyone was taken aback, thinking how much boss you don't want to see cargo ships. Speaking of which, global shipping is still developed by cargo ships!Now that everyone has discussed it like this, the proportion of shipbuilding has 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 shipping will rise. As far as I know, the container shipping from the United States to Europe will start soon, and we will also join the first camp at that time." The rise of containers is bound to reduce the demand for bulk carriers, so a slight increase is already 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 just recently.

Once this container line is put into operation, absolute progress will be made, and the world will enter the container era.As for the container transportation in Hong Kong, in theory, it is not Lin Zhichao's turn to do it.

Generally speaking, two terminals such as Wharf and Blue Chimney (Swire) can be converted into temporary container terminals, which can ensure that the United States uses Hong Kong as a base to transport containers to Vietnam.

In order to really develop the container shipping terminal, the Hong Kong government needs to set up a "committee" and then make a report. It may take two or three years before the official tender will be issued on a series of issues such as prospects and site selection.

Therefore, Lin Zhichao does not have much advantage 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, they will all be his own, so the shares of the container terminal invested by these two will be pulled into Lin Zhichao's command.

Just pick up ready-made ones, why bother to show your sharpness 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 20 tons of freighters a year is also a considerable increase."

Soon his subordinates were convinced and no longer insisted on their own ideas.The reason is very simple, but the first is to add 20 tons of freighters a year, which 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 office of Cheung Kong Industries.

We still held a group meeting to summarize and plan. After all, it was a new year.

Cheung Kong Holdings’ current assets are:
122 million square feet of reserved land, Yingzhi Building, Poly Building, Global Building, Midea Building, International Building (under construction), Mira Hotel, Miramar Shopping Center, Causeway Bay Daimaru Department Store, Xintiandi Shopping Center, Sing Tao Daimaru Department Store, Lychee Garden Playground, and a large number of scattered rental properties.

In terms of subsidiaries and associated companies, there are more than 50 descendant companies such as Poly Construction, Anderson Daya, Changjiang Finance, and Hung Hom Tunnel (50%).

Cheung Kong made a profit of 8000 million Hong Kong dollars last year, with a total liquidity of 2.6 million Hong Kong dollars; 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 has no debts.

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 turned 1 million Hong Kong dollars into cash and deposited them directly in the underground treasure room of the villa. Of course, the money was withdrawn for a long time; and the remaining funds were deposited in Hang Seng Bank, 5000 million, HSBC, and HSBC. Guobao Tong Bank 5000 million, Standard Chartered 4000 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 said immediately: "This shows that Hong Kong's economic growth is weak and has encountered a bottleneck."

Everyone agrees with this point of view!

Hu Zhaoxu also said: "Commercial land in Central has risen to 2000-2500 Hong Kong dollars per square foot, commercial land in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon has risen to 1000-1500 Hong Kong dollars per square foot, and residential land in the center of Hong Kong and Kowloon has risen to 250-300 Hong Kong dollars per square foot. , Kwun Tong industrial land has risen to 120 Hong Kong dollars per square foot, Hong Kong residential buildings have also risen to 50-70 Hong Kong dollars per square foot, and high-end residential units in Causeway Bay cost 20 Hong Kong dollars per square foot. The price is already very high! But it seems that soon There hasn’t been a big increase in a year, and it feels like it’s not moving!” Lin Zhichao said: “Last year we sold 1100 houses, how long did it take?”

Hu Zhaoxu replied: "We built Telford Garden at the beginning of the year, but the remaining 1100 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 reminder: "Since September 1962, the number of buildings under construction in Hong Kong has risen sharply. Everyone is rushing to start construction of their land before January 9, 1966, which can increase the number of buildings by 1%. Floors. Therefore, since 1, the number of residential units completed every year has skyrocketed. In 20, it was about 1962, in 1962 it was about 1.1, last year (1963) it was about 1.5, and this year (1964) it should be In the most year, it may break through more than 2. In Hong Kong, there are new buildings to be completed everywhere at this time!"

A word popped up in everyone's mind-the imbalance between supply and demand, and then recalled that the boss stopped in time in 1957, and now it has plummeted again?

Here are all senior executives of Cheung Kong Industries. They usually follow Lin Zhichao and know the group's dynamics, so they have already guessed; but until today, they found 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 to do analysis, regardless of whether the real estate is in crisis or not, but it is not suitable to develop new real estate at this time; although Cheung Kong has sufficient financial strength, I don't want to take risks. As for the less than 20% I don’t think about the residential area. Therefore, in recent years, Cheung Kong has supported the company with commercial real estate income, and I plan to invest in five-star hotels and shopping centers in Xingdao, and I will announce the plan later.”

Coincidentally, in the three years from 1965 to 1967, Lin Zhichao planned to go to Singapore for a wave of development; these years, in order to maintain the relationship with Mr. Li, he invested in plastic flowers, wigs, toys and other factories in Singapore. The scale is not large. They also pulled other people from Hong Kong to invest in some textile factories and garment factories in Singapore. Of course, the investment is not too 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's aggressiveness in Singapore is definitely not high. After all, strong dragons do not overwhelm local snakes, so his plan is a five-star hotel and two shopping malls on Orchard Road; and the entire Orchard Road in later generations is about 20 shopping malls (including office buildings or hotels).

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they heard the boss' plan.There are no new real estate development projects, but at least Cheung Kong 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. Sex is still there, still making progress.

The next day, Lin Zhichao came to the Yangtze River Industry Group again, and held a meeting with the senior management to summarize.

Anyone who is familiar with the boss knows that every year after New Year's Day, Lin Zhichao has to summarize the past year and make plans for the new year; because of this, the senior management must sort out the materials and ideas a week in advance .

Chen Linyuan: "Last year, Yangtze River Wigs made a profit of 320 million Hong Kong dollars, 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 all adopt the agency model. The high-end wig brand 'Sleek' will be our long-term research and development. and investment objects”

Lin Zhichao nodded in satisfaction. He thought that the wig business was going to be a hit, but Chen Linyuan was a talent. He made high-end wigs into a brand and gave off a second spring. Following this trend, the 'Sleek' brand will continue to develop. To expand the business.

Of course, it does not mean that Chen Linyuan can take all the credit. After all, Lin Zhichao organized the high-end wigs at the beginning, and Chen Linyuan just developed it.

Lin Zhichao said: "Wigs are actually very popular in Europe and the United States. In recent years, the Beatles have been coming to Hong Kong to perform and promote; the reason why the profits of ordinary wigs have been greatly reduced is that the threshold for wigs is low. There are too many wig practitioners in Hong Kong. No, we don’t have any advantages, 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 if things cannot be reversed, the boss is very enlightened; of course, if you fail to do something well, the boss will also scold you.

Subsequently.

Tao Derong: "Last year, the profit of Changjiang Plastic Factory plummeted again, leaving only 900 million Hong Kong dollars, and the reason for the decline is that plastic flowers are no longer popular in Europe and the United States, and there are about 1500 large and small plastic flower factories in Hong Kong. It is unbelievable that Changjiang Plastic Factory currently has 3000 workers and about 1500 cooperative factories. This year, Changjiang Plastic Factory is expected to lay off [-] workers, or dismiss them or assign them to Changjiang Toy Factory.”

Everyone was in a bad mood, and Changjiang Plastic Factory was undoubtedly the fastest and sharpest decliner; from the peak profit of 2500 Hong Kong dollars, it fell to 900 million Hong Kong dollars in just three years, and its profit fell by more than 500 million in a year.

Lin Zhichao said frankly: "The boat is small and easy to turn around, which is confirmed by the wigs and plastic flowers. Those small factories, they use second-hand equipment, hire some child labor and temporary labor, and lower the wages. Their costs are so low that we cannot compete. Because of this, the large factories in these two industries had to close down first, and the market was eaten by these people. However, the life of small factories may not be easy, and the competition between them is getting stronger and stronger, and they will eventually go to ruin."

There will be more plastic flower factories, and it may be no problem to reach 70 by the beginning of the 2000s.But large factories could not survive until 1967.

It is impossible for large factories to lower wages too much, because there are strikes in Hong Kong at every turn, and there are 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 of delivery.

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 nothing to discuss about 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 own future, he would go back to the zipper and toy factories at worst. The boss would not treat him badly.

then.

Ke Yan Pinghui reported: "Affected by the sharp increase in the export of Rubik's Cube, the profit of Changjiang Toy Factory reached 4400 million last year, of which the export profit of Rubik's Cube reached 1500 million Hong Kong dollars. Changjiang Toy Factory currently has 6800 workers, and there are already four "Bond Toys" under its umbrella. , including three in Hong Kong and one in Sing Tao.”

Lin Zhichao showed a comfortable smile. The Changjiang Toy Factory is doing well, which means that the status of Audrey Toys in the United States is stronger. This company has become the largest toy factory in the United States.

Of course, the Rubik's Cube is only a product represented by Audrey Toys, so Changjiang Toys still enjoys the most profits.

And Lin Zhichao's son "Lin Ruidong" published "You Can Restore Rubik's Cube" early last year, which became a bestseller in Europe and America, selling more than 50 copies in just one year, which made Lin Zhichao very happy; this is the first time to cultivate his son's business talent One step further, Lin Ruidong will also have a business empire in the future.

"Well, the toy industry is doing well. This industry is a long-term development business. The more developed the world economy, the brighter the toy industry's prospects." Lin Zhichao commented.

Everyone knows that the boss values ​​the zipper and toy industries the most, and also considers growth issues.

Next.

Bao Chunlai reported: "The zipper industry grew last year, thanks to the development of the world's ready-to-wear industry and the Westernization of Asian clothing; therefore, the profit of Changjiang Zipper last year was 4500 million Hong Kong dollars."

Cheng Yuanxionghui reported: "Zhongtian Iron and Steel made a profit of 1300 million Hong Kong dollars last year, thanks to the rapid development of the construction industry in Hong Kong."

The remaining Midea Electric Appliances earned 150 million Hong Kong dollars in profit, which is better than nothing, and its development is not the best in Hong Kong. It has just been replaced by 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.

In the end, Lin Zhichao came to a conclusion.

Last year, the Yangtze River Industries Group created a profit of 1.16 million Hong Kong dollars, spent 3500 million Hong Kong dollars on investment and research and development, and left a net profit of 8100 million Hong Kong dollars.The cash flow of the Yangtze River Industries Group has reached 3.2 million. The funds are mainly stored in Citibank, Chase Bank, Bank of East Asia, Standard Chartered Bank, and HSBC. Lin Zhichao also exchanged 2000 million US dollars (1.12 million Hong Kong dollars) and put them in his villa. inside.

Therefore, at this time, Lin Zhichao's villa has 1 million Hong Kong dollars and 2000 million US dollars respectively, becoming 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 billionaires or families in Hong Kong with a net worth of over [-] million. After all, Aircraft Tai, Liao Baoshan, Ma Jincan, Zhang Yuliang, Peng Guozhen, Xu Aizhou, Dong Yunhao, etc., almost all have assets worth hundreds of millions. Billionaires are no longer enough. strange.But there are only a handful of people who can come up with a cash flow of [-] million yuan, and Lin Zhichao may even be the only one.

Lin Zhichao's cash flow is a full 5.8 million Hong Kong dollars, not including the US stock market value of overseas investments.

Of course, his debt is more than 5 million Hong Kong dollars, but that is the debt of global shipping, which is nothing!
(End of this chapter)