Hong Kong Island's New Rich Era

Chapter 293 Adjustment
When Liu Zhicheng comes to the office every day, the first thing he does is pick up the newspaper and read.

No matter where he is in the world, his global business developments will be transmitted to him every day.

This is a secretarial network formed by an efficient team of assistants.

No matter where he is or when, he knows all the information about Hong Kong clearly.

Overall, there has been no major events in Hong Kong over this period of time.

Mainly major real estate developers, which have released their semi-annual financial reports and annual results, and have delivered gratifying results.

A comparison is Henderson Land Development, which announced a dividend of HK$1992 per share when it released its annual results (1993/1), involving a total amount of HK$16 billion, which brought an unexpected surprise to shareholders and caused its stock price to soar 18% that day.

Routines are all routines.

The market value of Henderson Land Development has always been far lower than its net asset value. The sudden distribution of a large dividend is nothing more than pushing up the stock price.

Just as Liu Zhicheng guessed, there will be a revaluation of assets later, which will push up the stock price.

The next step is to issue bonds and raise funds through rights offerings, and the funds raised could eventually reach more than HK$60 billion.

Soon, real estate tycoon Hao Qingwen came to the office to listen to Liu Zhicheng's opinions on the real estate market.

What is the most important thing in real estate?

Of course it’s the cycle!
So what is the second most important thing?
cash flow!
As long as you master these two points, everything else is nothing.

In the past, mainland real estate developers expanded to a scale of 2 trillion in a very short period of time. They must have looked down on the major real estate developers in Hong Kong at some point in time.

They think - look, it took you sixty or seventy years to reach a scale of hundreds of billions, but we only need twenty or thirty years to reach a scale of trillions.

The results of it!
In 2015, smart real estate developers in Hong Kong sold their properties in the Mainland and Hong Kong to these latecomers at high prices.

Six or seven years later, Hong Kong real estate developers started laughing, represented by Li Chaoren and Liu Luanxiong.

This is the benefit of understanding cycles.

Next, let’s talk about the benefits of cash flow. The representative figure is the Zheng Yutong family. In their previous life, from 2021 to 2022, they still chose to acquire land in the mainland.

Because their debt is very low, they can be bought at the bottom.

But what others are buying at the bottom is commercial real estate. In the absence of much debt, collecting rent is always the safest option.

Of course, the Zheng family may also be buying insurance, because Chow Tai Fook is too powerful in the mainland, and at this time they need to take action to support the authorities.

Maintaining sufficient cash flow can make a person invincible.

Understanding the real estate cycle allows one to defend as well as attack.

Liu Zhicheng said: "From now on, Huangpu Group will reduce the construction of 30% of its real estate projects in Hong Kong to avoid the government's possible more severe crackdown on the real estate market.
This will lead to a real estate adjustment period. Of course, the main reason is that we have many large housing estates that can be sold. "

Hao Qingwen nodded and asked, "What about the latest government land auction?"

Liu Zhicheng also hesitated. According to his memory and analysis of the current situation, Hong Kong would enter a period of real estate adjustment starting from the second quarter of 1994, which would last until the fourth quarter of 1995.

During this period, Hong Kong's real estate will fall from its peak, with a conservative drop of 20%.

The impact on large real estate developers is not particularly large, they will just make a little less money.

Liu Zhicheng slowed down the construction of the real estate project only as a corresponding minor adjustment.

"Wait for my notification and formulate a strategy based on the actual situation. If I don't have any new instructions, you can take the land as usual."

Hao Qingwen nodded and said, "Okay! At present, the market sentiment is very good, and there should be another wave of increases by the end of the year."

Liu Zhicheng went on to say: “We will plan the last phase of Sceneway Garden, the second phase of Laguna Verde, City Place Tsuen Wan and the first phase of Ocean Pride, and prepare to launch sales one after another by the end of the year.”

All four are properties in large housing estates, as large housing estates have higher prices and are more popular.

Therefore, Liu Zhicheng likes to plan, at the most appropriate time, and then "kill" it all at once, so as to improve the company's reputation.

As for other small and medium-sized real estate projects, he will not interfere too much.

After a brief meeting, Hao Qingwen left.

Don't underestimate this simple meeting, it can bring hundreds of millions of new revenue to the company.

Liu Zhicheng did not rely solely on the memory of time travel to arrange these matters, but only came up with the final plan after detailed analysis.

For example, he may just know that the Hang Seng Index climbed above 11000 points this year (actually above 12000) and then began to fall in 1994.

The reason, of course, is that the market was over-exploded, with too many profit-taking orders, and Hong Kong's economy cannot support a market value of more than HK$2.6 trillion (the fourth largest in the world, after the United States, Japan, and London).

Based on the stock market, Liu Zhicheng can analyze Hong Kong's real estate because Hong Kong is "pulled by the stock market".

What this means is: over the years, stocks generally lead the way, followed by real estate; when stocks rise for a period of time, real estate will inevitably rise; when stocks fall, real estate will definitely be affected.

There will be another big surge in stocks at the end of the year (currently 7500 points, with an increase of about 60%), and real estate will also follow suit.

This will have a consequence: Hong Kong's real estate prices are too high, the public's anger will erupt, and the Hong Kong government should formulate another strategy to crack down on real estate speculators.

After various analyses, Liu Zhicheng has already analyzed the securities and real estate from 1994 to 1995.

However, the past two years have been a period of adjustment, and almost no one has gone bankrupt because of it. After all, a 20% drop only took about one and a half years, so the impact was not particularly large.

However, Liu Zhicheng personally and his companies will still make considerable profits from this.

Because he is very good at cutting leeks.

…………

In the afternoon, Liu Zhicheng received Xu Shubiao from Thailand.

After the last negotiation failed, Huangpu Beverage Food immediately formed a research and development team with the goal of developing the formula for functional drinks this year (1993), and even went to Thailand and Austria to recruit people for this purpose.

Liu Zhicheng felt that this was not difficult. He could remember a few formulas - taurine, lysine, caffeine, and vitamins. Of course, these might only be the obvious ones.

But if it is handed over to a professional team, I believe it will not be a problem.

Otherwise, how did Lehu and Dongpeng Special Drink come into being in the previous life, and together they occupy 30% of the functional beverage market.

After all, Liu Zhicheng only believes that marketing and channels are the most important.

Quality is important, but in the absence of any other options for cooperation, Liu Zhicheng decided to make the first functional beverage in the mainland.

When Xu Shubiao took the initiative to come to the door this time, he was shocked to find that Huangpu Beverage was poaching people in Thailand with high salaries.

He knew that this drink was not that difficult to develop, and even if the taste was slightly different, it would not necessarily have an impact, after all, people in the mainland had never tasted the authentic one.

By then, relying on Liu Zhicheng's influence in the mainland, he will surely be able to obtain the license quickly, and then there will be no need for bullfighting (the name has not yet been confirmed as Red Bull).

In addition, he had been struggling in the mainland for several months, but the authorities did not give him any chance to obtain permission.

That's why he took the initiative to contact them to see if he could find better cooperation.

Liu Zhicheng and Yuan Tianfan accompanied Xu Shubiao to drink tea. They were not in a hurry at all because they knew that the initiative had changed.

Xu Shubiao was a little anxious, so after taking a sip of tea, he asked bluntly: "Mr. Liu, Mr. Yuan, are you developing bullfighting and have you poached our R&D personnel?"

He was so anxious that he didn't play by the rules. If you ask these questions, who would understand and tell you?

Yuan Tianfan immediately smiled and said, "Mr. Xu, we are indeed developing functional beverages suitable for Chinese people, but we are not developing bullfighting.
Bullfight is not the only functional beverage in the world, for example, Magic Claw in the United States. As for poaching your R&D personnel, I believe this question is rather abrupt, so there is no need to explain it. "

Liu Zhicheng smiled faintly, as if it had nothing to do with him. If Xu Shubiao was not old, he would not have to meet him in person if he had given him the respect of a senior.

Xu Shubiao also understood that Huangpu Beverage & Food was backed by a giant consortium, so it was naturally not a good thing for him to be interested in this field.

He also knows that Huangpu Beverage and Food is developing well in the mainland, and Jinmailang instant noodles is currently the best-selling brand in the mainland.

Wanglaoji has also been reborn, and its sales performance is quite good in places where there are Chinese people.

So, he compromised and said: "Instead of establishing a new brand, you might as well cooperate with me. After all, new brands are likely to fail."

Yuan Tianfan still had the character of a scholar, appearing to be very elegant and calm, but in fact he was sometimes very irritable, after all, he was a 'young and energetic' high-ranking official.

He said calmly: "We believe in Mr. Xu's credibility, but Mr. Xu is 72 years old after all, and he will hand over the business to his children sooner or later.

A beverage brand needs a long period of marketing to open up sales. Those uncontrollable factors are too fatal. Therefore, we still hope to buy out the brand rights and trademarks of Dou Niu in the mainland. After all, you can make profits from materials (flavors and spices) in the long term, which is also a source of continuous profit. "

Liu Zhicheng told Yuan Tianfan that even if the company took over the Douniu brand and reached a cooperation agreement with Xu Shubiao, it would still have to continue research and development to avoid being strangled by others.

As for why brand rights are needed, it is actually very simple. Austrian bullfighting advertises internationally, and it also advertises bullfighting domestically;

That alone makes it worth buying out the Bulldog brand.

Xu Shubiao can certainly see this, but don't forget that he can not only obtain a large sum of cash now, but also make profits by providing materials in the long term.

So Xu Shubiao asked tentatively: "How much do you plan to pay to buy out the mainland brand?"

Yuan Tianfan glanced at Liu Zhicheng, and at Liu Zhicheng's suggestion, he said, "3000 million US dollars. We can sign a long-term material supply contract with you, but you cannot sell or register related products and trademarks in the mainland."

Liu Zhicheng agreed in his heart. He had already told Yuan Tianfan before that they should be on guard against the descendants of the Xu family causing trouble, and he did not approve of the contract signed by both parties.

Therefore, if the two parties were to have formal negotiations, Huangpu’s lawyers would definitely study it thoroughly and would not allow them to take advantage of the situation.

As for the supply of materials, it may have an impact in the future, but that is not a big problem as the formula has already been cracked.

It is just like in the past, when Thai Tianshi stopped supplying materials to the mainland for Red Bull, there were still Red Bull products on the market.

Xu Shubiao was shaken!

But no agreement was reached this time. However, Huangpu Beverage and Food Company would not stop.

After Xu Shubiao left, Liu Zhicheng said to Yuan Tianfan: "We will try to go to the mainland by the end of this year or early next year to apply for the brand name and trademark, and to find state-owned enterprises to cooperate with."

At this time, "Red Bull" had not been registered at all, which made Liu Zhicheng understand that "Red Bull" was the name given by Yan Bin in his previous life (Xu Shubiao proposed to use "Red Step" in his previous life).

Xu Shubiao only owned the "Bullfighting" trademark, but it was not registered in the mainland at that time (the overseas registration was successful) because he had not yet obtained a food license.

Without products, the mainland will not register your trademark and brand name.

Yuan Tianfan asked, "Boss, are you so optimistic about the market for this drink?"

After all, he didn't have the ability to predict the future, and he found it surprising that his boss, a billionaire, attached great importance to this drink.

Liu Zhicheng said: "Don't underestimate a promising product, after all, the mainland's population is there!

The faster the mainland's economy develops, the more people will work overtime, and the more profits will be needed, given the hardworking nature of the Chinese people."

Hard work is the nature of the Chinese. Although Hong Kong is a ZB society, overtime is still very heavy, and many people do not receive overtime pay.

Although there are trade unions here, they are not as powerful as those in Europe and the United States.

This fully proves that the thing has nothing to do with Z degree!

Who says Chinese people are the representatives of hard work?
Yuan Tianfan nodded and said, "Well, I heard from the R&D team that a similar product should be available by the end of the year."

"Okay, then we'll take the product to discuss cooperation with Huaxia Food Company (a state-owned enterprise). Otherwise, it will be difficult for me to get the license!"

"Well, after all, this drink does not meet the food safety standards of the mainland, so caution is necessary."

“So, we still need to improve the formula under the guidance of the mainland authorities. If all goes well, it should be available on the market by the end of 1994.

By then, the mainland's economy will have grown a lot, and the market's acceptance capacity will have been greatly enhanced."

Yuan Tianfan knew that his boss had been very optimistic about the mainland's economy from the beginning; of course, now everyone has indeed seen the speed of mainland economic growth.

Overseas capital has been pouring into the mainland, firstly because the market size there is large, and secondly because the labor force there is cheap.

…………

Time flies, and half a month passes in the blink of an eye.

Wednesday, September 10th.

In the office, Liu Zhicheng was looking at stocks on the computer. He had deposited 1000 million Hong Kong dollars into his stock account.

He didn't really want to make money, but wanted to return to the feeling of stock trading in his previous life.

Although both Huangpu and Hongli Investments had securities investments worth tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars, he was unable to experience the fun of stock trading.

Therefore, he specially used his private account to regain his 'lost mood'.

The Hong Kong stock market has been hot since the beginning of this week. Today is the third trading day of this month, and the Hang Seng Index has climbed to a historical high of 8100 points.

Liu Zhicheng discovered that one of the characteristics of the Hong Kong securities market was that it was very "speculated", rising and falling rapidly, and rarely going sideways for a long time.

In the past, the A-share market had been trading sideways around 3000 points for seven years, which was another situation.

The Hong Kong stock market is undoubtedly a paradise for "speculators". You can become rich overnight and go bankrupt overnight. The fun is in the thrill.

Liu Zhicheng bought real estate stocks, but not blue-chip stocks, such as Hong Kong Land Development and Tsim Sha Tsui Properties, which had good growth and he has made more than 100 million yuan so far.

But he soon discovered that the fun ended there!

Since he doesn't know how to speculate in the short term like he did in his previous life, he naturally won't experience real happiness.

As for asking him to speculate in the "ultra-short term" now, it is simply like taking off your pants to fart.

Knowing that the Hang Seng Index still has 40% to go, how could he leave halfway?

If the T fails, the title of "stock god" will be wasted.

Therefore, Liu Zhicheng was only interested for a while, but soon became bored.

…………

Earlier this month, Fat Peng released his second policy address, and the mainland immediately issued a statement - reiterating the reasons for its firm opposition.

The relationship between London and Beijing has hit a low point, but the people of Hong Kong have become accustomed to it. You can quarrel as you please, it doesn't affect our freedom, we are really used to it.

After all, this is a matter at the national level. Although the people of Hong Kong are helpless - many people's livelihood projects have been delayed, there is nothing they can do.

So, let’s keep dancing and having fun!
In addition, with foreign capital continuing to flow into the Hong Kong stock market, it is believed that the increase this month may reach 20%, breaking through 9000 points.

This is Liu Zhicheng’s analysis!

.........

Liu Zhicheng arrived at the Asia Television Building. When he passed the lobby on the first floor, he found that there were foreign guests coming and going, which made him smile.

The copyright of ATV's dramas is sold to more than 6000 countries overseas (multiple TV stations in one country may purchase the copyrights). It is expected that more than 5000 episodes will be sold this year, with an average price of US$ per episode.

The TV drama copyright can bring in a profit of 3000 million US dollars a year, and there is no tax in Hong Kong, so it is almost all pure profit.

The vast majority of these dramas are Hong Kong-style dramas, accounting for about 7%; this shows that Hong Kong-style culture has spread.

In fact, this result is nothing, we still need to keep working hard.

After all, Liu Zhicheng knew that when the Korean wave was popular in the past, the mainland purchased 2002 Korean dramas in 62, which was probably more than 1500 episodes.

However, at present, Hong Kong-style dramas are sold at low prices, with the highest price being US$8000 per episode, and US$3000 per episode is also sold. The normal price is around US$5000 per episode.

After all, Hong Kong culture is still being promoted.

Liu Zhicheng remembered that in his previous life, around 1994, R himself went to the mainland to seek to purchase the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The mainland officials did not dare to make an offer, and they only dared to quote US$1 per episode (there were more than episodes in total).

I thought R would think it was too expensive, but he didn't bargain at all and agreed immediately.

In this way, Japan is more willing to spend money on China's ancient costume historical dramas and mythological dramas.

Therefore, ATV is currently developing the project of "Journey to the West", which actually makes more money than Hong Kong dramas.

However, the production cost of Hong Kong dramas is low, and an excellent Hong Kong drama can be produced with 1000 to 1500 million Hong Kong dollars, and almost all of them are very profitable.

ATV's copyright income also includes variety shows. As American TV stations purchased its copyrights, TV stations in Europe, America and Asia followed suit.

On average, a talent show reality show can be purchased by seven or eight overseas TV stations.

Due to its high global popularity, ATV also asks for a lot, and the price for a copyright is almost never less than 200 million US dollars. The negotiation is mainly based on population and economy.

(End of this chapter)