"Mr. Lin, this is the detailed information I gathered on Hutchison Whampoa."
After nearly three days, Cheng Yufeng finally completed his research on Hutchison Whampoa — and that was with the cooperation of management. Without it, it would have taken much longer, and many figures would have been impossible to obtain.
Lin Baicheng nodded and asked, "What about William's development plan for Hutchison Whampoa?"
"It's here."
Cheng Yufeng took out another document.
"I'll read through these materials first. You can go."
Lin Baicheng picked up the detailed report on Hutchison Whampoa, placing William's development plan aside for the moment.
"Yes, Mr. Lin."
After responding, Cheng Yufeng left.
Lin Baicheng read very carefully — nearly an hour passed before he finished, and he finally had a clear understanding of Hutchison Whampoa's current status.
At present, Hutchison Whampoa owns 180 companies, but only eight are publicly listed: Hutchison Whampoa itself, Park'n Shop, Watsons, Hutchison Properties, Metropolitan Properties, Goodyear Warehouse, Anderson Asia, and Harbour Engineering.
Its businesses span import/export trade, wholesale and retail, pharmaceuticals, business services, container shipping, shipyards, warehousing, transportation, real estate, mining, construction, and investment.
Although Hutchison Whampoa appears massive with its 180 companies, many of them actually make little profit — and quite a few are still losing money.
William has already dissolved or sold over a hundred companies, but those were the heavily loss-making ones. Even now, among the remaining 180 companies, some are still unprofitable, while others are only breaking even.
However, the large number of companies also means a large pool of talent, and with extensive land holdings, Hutchison Whampoa is Hong Kong's largest landowner. Its potential is therefore enormous.
Liabilities:
Short-term debt: HKD 760 million
Long-term debt: HKD 570 million
Total: over HKD 1.3 billion
All short-term debts must be paid by year-end. Hutchison Whampoa must either:
use profits or sell assets to raise cash, or
secure new bank loans to clear the short-term debt.
Either way, repaying over a billion Hong Kong dollars will not be easy.
Regarding Hutchison Whampoa's developmental direction, Lin Baicheng already had a general idea. Real estate must be the core, given Hong Kong's future property boom. Without the red-hot real estate market, even Li Ka-shing in Lin's previous life could never have become Asia's richest man.
Aside from real estate, retail must also be strongly expanded. Retail relates to people's livelihood, builds brand influence, and most importantly — it makes money. Just look at Walmart.
Even if Watsons never grows to Walmart's scale, securing a solid share of the mainland retail market would easily make it a business worth tens of billions.
Next is pharmaceuticals.
Hutchison's pharmaceutical arm does have an R&D department, but relies mainly on patent licenses from Western companies. Investment in independent R&D has been low, and results nonexistent. Still, pharmaceuticals are a necessity, and even acting like a middleman selling patented drugs is profitable — just not very profitable, since the patent holders take most of the earnings.
Lin Baicheng wants to invest heavily in pharmaceuticals not because he expects guaranteed huge profits, but because he understands the importance of medicine. Without invoking high ideals about serving the nation, he simply wants himself and those around him to have access to the safest, most advanced drugs when needed.
Pharmaceuticals also include medical devices, another area he intends to invest in — pouring money into talent and research to eventually develop the world's most advanced medical equipment.
Of course, pharmaceutical research is costly, and no one can guarantee when returns will come. Investment in this area must wait until Hutchison Whampoa earns significant profits from real estate — otherwise, there would be no funds to keep filling this bottomless pit.
Afterward, Lin Baicheng looked at William's development plan.
According to William, even 180 companies are still too many; unprofitable or low-profit companies should be sold off gradually. Recovered funds should be used partly to repay short-term debts, and partly to develop real estate by building properties on the company's land.
William believes that in land-scarce, densely populated Hong Kong, real estate prices will only rise as the economy continues to flourish. The recent recovery of Hong Kong's property market already proves this trend.
Selling companies and focusing on real estate — in this, William's plan matches Lin's own thinking.
However, William also proposes strengthening the company's trade business, since Hutchison Whampoa already has extensive talent, experience, and relationships in trade.
On this point, Lin Baicheng remains noncommittal. Trade is indeed profitable, and Hutchison Whampoa International used to rely heavily on it. But now that the company's controller has changed to him, Lin Baicheng, it's uncertain whether previous business relationships will remain intact.
More importantly, the Sino-British negotiations over Hong Kong's return will begin in a few years. Lin's political stance is clear, and as the major shareholder of Hutchison Whampoa, his trade businesses will inevitably be affected by Hong Kong's future status.
If the British wanted to pressure him to change his stance, or suppress him, disrupting the trade business — the most easily targeted area — would be their first move.
Therefore, making trade the main development focus is unwise. For now there's no need to shut it down — it still makes money — but there is no reason to heavily invest in it. In fact, within a few years, the company should prepare to reduce or divest these operations.
Although William's plan doesn't align with Lin's intentions regarding trade, it is understandable — William is not someone reborn with knowledge of the future. Trade is profitable, and it has long been Hutchison Whampoa's strength. His plan is rational, and Lin acknowledges its merit.
Even so, Lin will not change his own strategy.
If William insists on aggressively expanding trade, Lin will have no choice but to dismiss him.
When it comes to the company's long-term direction, Lin's will must prevail, and no one is allowed to oppose it.