Chapter 477 (1/2)
Shen Bi's acting skills successfully deceived governor Youde. In his mind, HSBC's interests may override the British Empire. After all, HSBC is a listed company, and he should first be responsible to the board of directors.
Youde stood in the middle of the stage and said, ”thank you for taking the time to come to the governor's house in your busy schedule. You have seen the theme of today's banquet. The purpose of inviting you here must have been known, and you don't have to hide here. ”
”Not long ago, the clown of Argentina dared to attack the Falkland Islands of the British Empire, which was a provocation to the imperial authority. Therefore, London has sent troops to safeguard the interests of the British Empire. It is believed that victory is only a matter of time. ”
”As we all know, once the cannon rings, there will be ten thousand taels of gold; War is an extremely costly act. In recent years, Britain's domestic economy has developed slowly, so it can be said that its own funds are not very sufficient. ”
”But the soldiers on the front line need the most advanced weapons and the most perfect logistics support, which all need a lot of funds to support. Therefore, the British Empire decided to issue war bonds in Xiangjiang, with an annual return of 5%. I know you are all big entrepreneurs and super rich. You may not like the 5% return. But this is the greatest sincerity of the British Empire. At the same time, you should also consider that this is during the war. Therefore, I hope you can buy it enthusiastically. ”
”If you buy a pound more bonds, the front-line soldiers may have more protection. Here, on behalf of the British Empire, I would like to thank you and hope to get your support. ”
Youde's speech can be said to be regular. He knows that there are super rich and human spirits here. Talking about too many empty things will disgust people, and having baozixuan's 1 billion pound backing also makes him more confident.
However, reality poured cold water on our governor Youde. After he said that, no one bought war bonds. Even some British companies did not come forward, which made Youde very angry. It seems that these people have been in Xiangjiang for too long. They don't know why they can do business on this land. It would have been a dream if the British Empire hadn't made these people so comfortable to do business here.
Now everyone is rich in oil, but when they are asked to contribute, they all step back. There is no such dedication as their ancestors. I don't think you can be so comfortable after the British Empire loses the rule of Xiangjiang.
They're not coming, but they can't. London is still waiting for news. Youde can only take the initiative to break one by one, otherwise he can't finish the task, but he has to bear the responsibility.
Youde came to the small circle of British businessmen and wanted them to take the lead in buying. This is a good way to ask other Xiangjiang businessmen, especially Chinese businessmen, not to refuse.
Soon Youde found his first target. John Madden, the leader of Xiangjiang huidefeng foreign firm, was neither strong nor weak. He was the most suitable bird.
Huidefeng is an old British funded foreign firm. It was founded in Shanghai by George Madden, a British Jew, in 1925 to operate shipping and warehousing. In 1932, it merged with Shanghai towboat Co., Ltd. of Canadian Thomas Willock to form huidefeng. After the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, the company moved its headquarters and fleet to Britain, but after the war, its founder had no foundation in China and turned to vigorously develop shipping business, so as to flee in case of great changes and withdraw as soon as possible. Although George retired in 1959, the policy of developing shipping to reduce political risks has been followed by his son John Madden. As a result, its business lagged far behind and finally changed hands.
In 1976, Xiangjiang's economy recovered and the real estate market flourished again, which expanded huidefeng's real estate business. In 1977, it developed phase I of fuze garden in North Point with HEC, and built industrial buildings in Tsuen Wan and Xinpugang, which greatly increased the asset value of the group. Nevertheless, when Huide Fung developed real estate at that time, it would rather revalue the lower land and allocate it as capital, and then cooperate with other powerful developers to thin the profits. Among them, in 1980, huidefeng's federal real estate and Li Chaoren's Changjiang industry formed Zhuo Jian Investment Co., Ltd., each accounting for 50% of the equity; Zhuo Jian first purchased the federal building and international building under huidefeng for 1 billion yuan, and received 500 million cash. Then, with the help of Zhuo Jian, Li Chaoren sold the two buildings for 2.235 billion yuan, and then let huidefeng cash out 1.1 billion yuan. Li Chaoren also shared 1.1 billion yuan. After deducting the 500 million yuan originally paid to huidefeng, he made 600 million yuan in just a few months. Huidefeng's lack of confidence in the future of Xiangjiang and its business practices are too conservative, which eventually makes its profits far behind developers such as Changshi and Sun Hung Kai.
However, the good days did not last long, and the real damage to huidefeng was caused by the retrogression of the shipping industry in 1980. From 1979 to 1980, Bao Yugang was pessimistic about the prospect of world shipping and sold a large number of ships. However, huidefeng not only purchased a large number of fleets from Bao Yugang, but also further ordered new ships in Japan, Spain, Denmark and China. In just three years, the number of fleets increased by 18. In 1982, the net fixed asset value of the fleet reached 1.633 billion yuan, a significant increase of 70% compared with 941 million yuan in 1979. This wrong judgment eventually led huidefeng to record a loss of 60 million yuan in 1983. In contrast, Bao Yugang saw that his second-largest customer, the Japanese shipping company, was on the verge of bankruptcy due to poor management in 1978. He was deeply wary of shipping. Then he adopted the strategy of ”abandoning the boat and landing”, sold a large number of fleets at low prices, and even did not hesitate to tear down oil tankers for scrap iron. By 1986, its fleet had been reduced to 65, with a carrying capacity of 8 million tons, only 40% of its peak period.
Although huidefeng is now in a period of suffering, the thin dead camel is bigger than a horse, and the rotten boat has 3000 nails; It's still not a big problem to ask them to take out some money. And Youde believes that as long as huidefeng buys war bonds, other enterprises have no reason to refuse.
You can have de Feng difficulties in difficulties. People have paid money to support the country's war. The others were watching.
Governor Youde came to John Madden and said, ”Hello, Mr. Madden. We haven't seen each other for a long time. How have you been lately? ”
John Madden actually wanted to leave when he saw governor Youde coming. It must be bad to know that the old boy came. But now when I hear him say hello, I can't ignore it. How can I say that people are also governors, and the face they should give should still be given.
Although John Madden did not have the ability and courage of his father, he was still a qualified leader. At least there are no major defects in management and operation. It may be that the vision is slightly poor and the prediction of the international situation is much worse.
John Madden: ”the global shipping industry has been depressed recently, so the shipping business of de Feng will be greatly impacted. The company is also in a difficult period, and I hope your Excellency the governor will give you more support. ”