Chapter 1353: Attack on Wheelock

Just as chaos was spreading across the Australian financial market, Xia Yu finally moved against Wheelock Shipping.

Justin Kyle was dragging his feet about making Wheelock Shipping release its financial report.

Especially since the Sydney consortium was one of the representatives of the bulls when international speculators attacked Australia, and this time they suffered heavy losses and their capital chain was under severe strain, Justin Kyle really wanted to hide.

After all, when Wheelock Shipping was acquired, Westpac was the biggest financial supporter.

If Wheelock Shipping suddenly went bust, causing Westpac to lose a large loan, it would definitely add to Westpac's woes.

However, all of this is under Xia Yu's control, and Justin Kyle has no say in it.

He thought that he could avoid it by delaying the release of the financial report, but that was too whimsical.

And the one who took action was the well-known Jiuding Securities Research Institute in Xiangjiang.

On February 17, Jiuding Securities Research Institute released the latest securities research report, rating 16 listed companies.

Seven of them were given a buy rating, five were given a hold rating, three were given a wait-and-see rating, and one was given the worst rating of avoid.

The company that received the avoid rating was Wheelock Shipping Company.

The report provided an in-depth analysis of Wheelock Shipping Company's current operating situation and the situation and trends of the entire shipping market, and Wheelock Shipping Company was criticized in every aspect.

In particular, the analysis of the fixed fleet value of Wheelock Shipping Company revealed that the total value had further shrunk to around 4 billion Hong Kong dollars.

And Wheelock Shipping Company's losses last year, combined with its liabilities, would also be around 4 billion Hong Kong dollars.

In terms of its main business, the operating status of Wheelock Shipping Company has further deteriorated.

After the rating report was issued, the market was in an uproar.

Some suspected that the Jiuding Securities Research Institute had a deeper agenda, but more people were afraid to take chances and simply sold their shares.

As a result, after the stock market opened,

Wheelock Shipping's stock price plummeted.

Within just ten minutes, the company's stock price dropped from HK$8.34 per share to HK$7.37 per share, and its market value fell to HK$10.625 billion.

Within ten minutes, the market value had evaporated by HK$1.4 billion.

And that wasn't the end.

At 14 minutes, Wheelock Shipping's market value officially fell below the HK$10 billion mark and continued to plummet.

Half an hour later, Wheelock Shipping's market value had fallen to HK$8.06 billion.

In half an hour, the market value had shrunk by one-third, and HK$4 billion had evaporated!

The stock price continued to fall, only slowing down a little, and the market panic had subsided somewhat.

Some gambling institutions were frantically asking about the movements of the Jiuding Group while keeping a close eye on Wheelock Shipping's movements, and at the same time began buying shares on the market.

Of course, these institutions were buying in small quantities, and the main force that was really propping up the market was the commissioned institution, Top Leader.

However, Justin Kyle was restless at this time, as if he had a mountain on his back.

Top Leading had previously acquired 55.7% of Wheelock Shipping's shares, but it cost HK$8.71 billion.

This capital has already exceeded the current market value of the entire Wheelock Shipping.

According to the current market value, Top Leading has already suffered a loss of more than HK$4.2 billion on this investment.

In other words, the financial institutions providing the funding are the consortium's Westpac, as well as the Rothschild family's ally Barclays and National Westminster Bank. Since all of these banks are involved, they should be able to withstand the pressure as long as they do not cause a bad impact.

If it were any other bank, they would have definitely called by now.

However, despite the connections, paper can't hold back the fire forever, and there will be trouble in the long run.

In particular, the Rothschild family, which has the closest relationship with the National Westminster Bank, is only a major shareholder and cannot make decisions unilaterally.

Therefore, the most urgent task at the moment is to quickly boost the share price of Wheelock Shipping, which is the only way for Topland to survive!

Justin Kyle and Myron Marjorie urgently held a secret meeting to discuss a countermeasure.

'Myron, how many people have seen the company's financial report?'

Justin Kyle asked Myron Kyle with a serious expression while holding a copy of the financial report in his hand.

Myron Kyle thought for nearly ten minutes before saying with certainty, 'President, only five people have seen the complete financial report so far, namely you, me, and three people from the finance department.'

'We haven't yet submitted it to a professional accounting firm for auditing.'

Justin Kyle was slightly relieved to hear this, but his expression was disillusioned.

This unapproved financial report must absolutely not be released.

Wheelock Shipping's business last year was even worse than expected.

Without the dividends from its five listed companies, and the failure to liquidate other assets, Wheelock Shipping's losses last year were a staggering 458 million Hong Kong dollars!

And this is without taking into account the decline in the value of the fleet's fixed assets, which was selectively ignored.

If the loss of Wheelock Shipping Company is assessed according to the research report released by the Jiuding Securities Research Institute, then the loss can be written off as 600 million Hong Kong dollars.

'Myron, after the report of the Jiuding Securities Research Institute is released, it will be very dangerous if we continue to delay the announcement of the financial report. Investors need a satisfactory financial report,'

said Justin Kyle after a long pause.

Macron Marjorie was taken aback, and then her face changed, and she blurted out, 'President, do you mean financial fraud?'

Although this word was very harsh, Macron Marjorie was one of their own people, so Justin Kyle did not deny it: 'This is the only way!'

'Wheelock Shipping Company is valuable. If we follow our original plan, we can completely get Wheelock Shipping Company out of the mud, but unfortunately, our enemies will not give us the time to develop.'

'Our development strategy has failed!'

'So now we have to get out and get rid of Wheelock Shipping, the time bomb.'

'Otherwise this loss will take Topland down with it!'

'The consortium is in a bad situation right now. With foreign capital invading Australia, the consortium is unlikely to give us any financial support, but we can't hold the consortium back!'

Myron Marjorie was silent, feeling very uncomfortable.

He never imagined that in just a few months, they would have come to such a desperate point.

'President, I understand what you mean. This is indeed the best way forward.'

'We just need to find a suitable accounting firm.'

'The Jiuding Securities Research Institute has already released a rating report on our company, and now the outside world is very concerned about our company's situation, so few accounting firms dare to cooperate with us,'

said Myron Marjorie, forcing himself to calm down and speak quietly.

Seeing that his trusted subordinate was willing to cooperate, Justin Kyle let out a sigh of relief and said immediately, 'You don't need to worry about the third-party accounting firm. I will find a way. What you need to do now is to come up with a qualified financial report.'

'In addition, the other three people who have seen the financial report, you find a way to bind them to us.'

'Understood!' Myron Marjorie decisively replied.

After that, they discussed the details for a while, and Myron Marjorie left quickly, leaving Justin Kyle sitting there in silence for a long time...