Chapter 1345: Wheelock's period of weakness
The operation to attack the Australian financial market could not be accomplished overnight.
In the early stages of the operation, what needed to be done was to keep the exchange rate of the Australian dollar as stable as possible, so that there would be more room for profit.
Then, on this basis, as much capital as possible was invested.
Therefore, it was bound to be as low-key as possible in the early stages of the operation, which took time to grind.
A month passed quietly.
Before long, it was mid-December, and 1984 was coming to an end.
All sectors of society began to sit down and take stock of the year.
The same was true in the world of capital, especially for listed companies, which needed to publish annual reports.
As for non-listed companies, whether or not to do so was up to the operators themselves. As long as they paid their taxes honestly, no one else cared.
The various companies in Xia Yu's business empire have all been busy for this reason, and the family office has also been busy.
Fortunately, the family office has been fully staffed in all departments, and after the initial teething problems, it is now running smoothly.
Two flowers blooming in the same branch!
On the Tuoling Company side, Justin Kyle spent more than a month taking over the Wheelock Group.
It is worth mentioning that John Madden was still psychologically unbalanced because of the high price paid for the Zhang Yuliang family's stake. He successively approached Charles Rothschild and Justin Kerr to try to make amends, but the result was an unhappy parting.
In a rage, John Madden threw in the towel, stopped helping Justin Kerr take over the major companies smoothly, and returned to the UK with the funds and his clan.
This incident was also given extensive coverage by the media.
At this time, the market value of Wheelock Shipping had fallen from its peak, and Justin Keel had made great efforts to stabilise it at around HK$12 billion.
Fortunately, when the company was acquired by Trailfind, it was backed by the Westpac Banking Corporation, where the consortium was based, as well as Barclays Bank, controlled by the Rothschild family, and the influential National Westminster Bank.
These three banks were able to withstand the pressure for Trailfind.
However, the Sydney consortium also knew that the most important thing was to let Wheelock Shipping develop. With the prosperity of the Hong Kong financial market, even if Wheelock Shipping made a profit of just a few hundred million Hong Kong dollars, it would be enough to increase its market value by several billion Hong Kong dollars.
At that time, the pressure on Trailink will naturally be eliminated.
For this reason, after Justin Kyle took over Wheelock Shipping, the first thing he did was gather people to sort out the details of the company's business, and then combine the resources of Trailink and the Sydney Consortium behind it to expand Wheelock Shipping's business and increase revenue and profits.
However, this requires a relatively long process, after all shipping takes a relatively long time, casually running on the sea for one or two months, and it is also very normal for a round trip to take four or five months.
Wheelock Shipping Company has developed new business, but it can only be settled after it is completed.
Therefore, in Justin Kerr's plan, 1985 will be a turning point for Wheelock Shipping Company, and there are two turning points, namely the middle and end of 1985.
There are still about six months until the middle of 1985. By making full use of the resources of the Sydney consortium and with the help of the resources of the Rothschild family, the revenue of Wheelock Shipping Company will reach a new level.
Although 1984 has not yet ended, the revenue data of Wheelock Shipping Company's shipping business can already be estimated.
Together with the business volume in the second half of the month, the annual revenue for 1984 should be around 9.7 billion Hong Kong dollars, which is still a little short of 10 billion Hong Kong dollars.
As for the actual loss in the shipping sector, it will be more than HK$400 million. The exact amount still needs to be estimated based on the market value of the ships, which involves the depreciation of the ships.
In Justin Keller's plan, by the middle of 1985, Wheelock Shipping's revenue will reach HK$6 billion, and by the end of the year, the revenue will reach HK$13 billion.
And if the market situation is right after the middle of next year, the number of ships needs to be increased.
As for profits, Justin Keir plans to break even in the first half of next year, solve the problem of losses, and then generate at least 300 million Hong Kong dollars in profits in the second half of the year.
If the plan goes well, the market value of Wheelock Shipping is expected to reach 15 billion Hong Kong dollars after the release of the half-year financial report in the middle of next year, and the market value will rise to 18 billion Hong Kong dollars by the end of next year, hitting 20 billion Hong Kong dollars!
With the resources and connections of the Sydney consortium, coupled with the support of the Rothschild family, there is a high possibility of this plan being implemented.
The future is bright!
But the immediate priority is to survive the next six months.
Especially the end of the year!
The market value of Wheelock Shipping has stabilised at around HK$12 billion, indicating that the capital market has certain expectations for the newly-entered Topland.
The litmus test will be the year-end financial report.
Whether the share price will rise, remain the same, or fall back to where it was or even worse,
it all depends on Wheelock Shipping!
Wheelock Shipping, Chairman's Office.
The Vice President in charge of finance, Myron Marjorie, knocked on the door and walked in.
Justin Kyle, who was frowning in thought, put down his pen, gave a smile, and said, 'Myron, you're here, have a seat, I need to talk to you.'
'Chairman, what is it?'
Upon sitting down, Myron Marjorie immediately inquired.
Justin Kyle sighed: 'I have read the financial reports you have given me for the past eleven months, and the situation is not good. We need a financial report that will not disappoint investors, and will even make them relatively satisfied.'
Myron Marjorie looked serious. After thinking for a moment, he said: 'Chairman, what you mean is that there is a need to make some adjustments on the financial side?'
Justin Kyle immediately shook his head and said, 'No, no, no, we can't do that. You should know that we are definitely being watched, and once we do that, it will bring us a huge crisis!'
He had been reminded many times by Charles Rothschild and was deeply aware of the influence and control of the previous competitor, the Jiuding consortium, in Xiangjiang.
Especially in the media and financial sectors, the Jiuding consortium is a dominant force.
If the opponent gets a hold of something, Wheelock Shipping will either die or lose a lot of skin. Right now, Wheelock Shipping can't afford to be tossed around like this.
He didn't have time to beat around the bush, and said directly, 'What I mean is, you need to gather people as soon as possible to supervise the subsidiaries of the five companies, namely, United Dockyards, Property Trust, Lane Crawford Retail, Commonwealth Properties, and the Hong Kong Cross Harbour Tunnel Company, to make annual reports. You also need to supervise the other unlisted holding companies.'
'But the main thing is that these five listed companies, when preparing their annual reports as soon as possible, should announce a dividend plan in the annual report and implement it as soon as possible, setting the dividend level at the upper limit.'
'These companies can slow down their expansion next year. We need the most dividends to stabilise investors!'
'Stabilise the company's share price!'