Rebirth of England.

Chapter 647 I will be anxious
"They want at least £80 billion to deal with bad assets and bring their financial situation up to the government's requirements so that they can get further credit support..."

Davis told Barron:

"They hope to obtain part of the funds by issuing new shares, but as you know, Barclays' share price has fallen too much compared to last year, so they hope to complete the issuance at a reasonable price, which can not only boost the share price, but also gain support from other shareholders."

"If that's the case, why not buy in the secondary market? Of course, I know that I won't get a large proportion of shares just by buying in the stock market, but if they still want to issue more shares at an ideal price, I'm afraid not many people will respond."

Hearing Barron's complaints, Davis laughed:
"That's true. Many people are not very interested in their plan now. After all, everyone is very cautious at this time. But time is running out. I believe they will face reality..."

Just like the Royal Bank of Scotland, which once ranked second among listed banks in the UK, but in the current crisis, the government injected 200 billion pounds and acquired 60% of their shares. The reason is that their stock price has fallen too much, and the government’s capital injection naturally cannot give too high a premium, otherwise it will cause dissatisfaction among the people.

But similarly, if it was Barron or another private company that invested in it, it would be impossible to get such conditions.

Because the management and shareholders of Royal Bank of Scotland understand that the British government has no interest in holding their shares for a long time, and the capital injection through holding shares is entirely for the purpose of rescuing the banking industry. Therefore, they will be able to get these shares back in the future under relatively relaxed conditions by returning the government's capital injection.

If it were any other private company, it would be completely different.

The same is true for Barclays Bank. Of course, accepting capital injection from the government is also an option, but the harsh conditions that come with it for the bank's management are definitely difficult for them to accept.

This requires them to find a capital injection plan that is acceptable to both shareholders and other investors. Otherwise, in the end, they will still have to accept the result of government capital injection.

Barron is still quite interested in investing in Barclays Bank. After all, from the perspective of returns alone, if he takes advantage of the current opportunity and invests in it, he will be able to obtain good returns in the future.

What's more, Barclays Bank is one of the oldest banks in the UK and also has a considerable position in the entire British financial industry. Acquiring a certain proportion of its shares will also help Barclays expand its influence on the British financial industry.

The question now is the conditions for investing in this bank...

But as Davis said, Barclays Bank doesn't have much time left, they will be anxious...

……

In addition to causing great damage to the financial industry and related industries, the subprime mortgage crisis also had a huge impact on ordinary people.

On the one hand, the unemployment rate continues to rise - in a crisis, even companies that are not going bankrupt will first cut costs. Large-scale layoffs or even the direct elimination of entire departments are all very normal. This will cause those who have lost their jobs to lose their source of income, and it will be very difficult to find a job again. After all, the number of jobs has been greatly reduced.

Also, there is inflation.

This is also what the British government was worried about before, especially against the backdrop of soaring crude oil prices this year. Rising oil prices have led to rising prices of consumer goods, but in comparison, income has not only not increased, but has been reduced by the impact of the crisis, which has increased the living pressure on people.

However, from the perspective of Argos Retail Group, this is also an opportunity for them to develop. Although Amazon has begun to enter some Western European countries, at present, Argos.com's market share in the e-commerce industry is still far ahead of Amazon.

After all, Argos.com has the first-mover advantage and is a "local player".

Moreover, its model is different from that of Amazon. At present, Amazon has opened up the European market to third parties. It can be said that a large proportion of the products on its European site are more inclined to the C2C format.

Moreover, there was no cross-border e-commerce at that time, and Amazon’s products in the European market mostly came from local suppliers.

The Argos Retail Group is different. They have started to build an increasingly complete supply system in China from an earlier time. With the help of Argos' funds and technology, most of the suppliers in this system can ensure that the price-performance ratio of their products is better than that of products in Europe.

Although Argos.com also has some third-party suppliers, more than 70% of the products currently come from Argos' own supply system.

Because the products in the European market use Argos Retail Group's own brands, even if the profit margins of some products can be considered high, it is difficult for consumers to compare prices with products on other sales platforms.

Under the influence of the subprime mortgage crisis, cheap goods have become popular everywhere, and Argos Retail Group has very strong competitiveness in this regard.

It can be said that in terms of cost-effectiveness, even Amazon, which has begun to attract users through various discount activities, cannot shake Argos.com's leading position.

Of course, Amazon's user growth data is not bad. The biggest impact is still on physical retailers in Europe. These physical retailers are at a disadvantage in terms of cost, especially for some daily necessities, small appliances and other products that do not require on-site try-on and trial. They have begun to lose users in large numbers.

In addition, some local e-commerce companies in various countries have also been squeezed by Argos.com and Amazon. Against the backdrop of their increasing difficulty in financing and the inability to carry out the money-burning model, many small European e-commerce companies have recently announced their bankruptcy.

"Before Christmas, Costco will complete the shareholder vote, and then we will be able to start the acquisition of this company..."

Nathan Ellington, CEO of Argos Retail Group, is very confident about the acquisition of Costco. Of course, with the financial support of Caesar Fund, it can be said that Argos Retail Group, which already owns more than 50% of Costco's shares, has basically completed its control over the company, but they hope to integrate Costco into the Argos Retail Group's system, so that it can occupy a certain scale in the North American retail market.

"Costco's management will be retained, and we will not interfere too much in its operations. The only thing we will do is to strengthen Costco's e-commerce business. Amazon's success has proven that e-commerce still has advantages in the United States, especially in large cities."

The situation in Europe and the United States is similar, that is, e-commerce will be more successful in large cities with relatively dense populations. As for other sparsely populated areas, the distribution of goods alone is a problem.

People there have also developed the habit of driving to nearby large supermarkets to shop in bulk and then stock up.

Why is e-commerce so successful in China? The population of one large city there is higher than that of an entire state in the United States. The population density is also conducive to the development of e-commerce.

Now that Amazon has come to Europe to compete with Argos.com, Argos Retail Group is naturally happy to acquire Costco and go directly to the North American market to seize Amazon's share.

(End of this chapter)