sbdcsierra Chapter 409 The Star Ferry fare increase incident
Chapter 409 The Star Ferry fare increase incident
Chapter 409 The Star Ferry fare increase incident
"He sir, the police fund has already rejected the project of investing in the Yau Ma Tei Ferry two days ago."
half a month later.
Eastern Bank.
CEO's office.
"The foundation accepts the proposal and will instead invest in the Star Ferry Company." Qiu De put a document in front of the big boss, folded his hands, and sat upright, waiting for the big boss's opinion.After opening the file and looking at it for 10 minutes, the big boss put down the file and said with a smile, "How is the Star Ferry?"
"Desperate."
Eight years ago.
When He Dingxian acquired Yau Ma Tei Ferry, he valued the monopoly of the ferry company. He not only spent several million to buy the license, but also spent millions to replace the passenger ships of Yau Ma Tei Ferry. Within six months, the initial investment has already returned to the capital.
The Star Ferry also fought a price war with the Yau Ma Tei Ferry for eight years. During this period, it launched activities such as "free tickets for the Spring Festival" and "holiday family tickets". Not a cent.
The Yau Ma Tei Ferry Company was responsible for almost all of this, and the Star Ferry was beaten passively. Fortunately, the population of Hong Kong Island is growing rapidly, and the two ferry companies serve as the only passage from the New Territories and Kowloon to Central.
Hard to make a profit.
"However, the good times are coming to an end."
Holding a cigarette in his hand, He Dingxian said in a deep voice, "The Urban Construction and Construction Department has formally formulated the subsea tunnel plan half a year ago. It will open a 1.86-kilometer-long, four-lane cross-sea tunnel in Hung Hom to connect Kowloon and Hong Kong Island."
"This package will undoubtedly greatly reduce the profits of ferry companies."
Qiu Degeng nodded: "Yes."
"After losing their monopoly, the transportation attributes of ferry companies will be reduced, and the future may be difficult."
Who wants to take a boat when they have a car?
What's more, the tunnel is there, open to traffic day and night, and the transportation volume greatly exceeds that of small ferries. It is a big bonus for the development of the Kowloon Peninsula. In fact, the Kowloon Peninsula was officially developed after the Red Tunnel was connected and incorporated into the urban area. ranks.
If you want to be rich, build roads first, a wise saying.The inland sea is also impassable for large freighters.But for those with vested interests, who is willing to give up the cake in their hands?The Star Ferry Company strongly opposes the tunnel plan, but it cannot withstand the Governor's determination to boost the economy.
Anyone with a discerning eye knows that investing in the Star Ferry Company is a loss-making business. However, before the opening of Hongsui, the annual report of the Star Ferry is still very good. No one dares to say that the Star Ferry will fail.He Dingxian asked the Police Fund Council to do it and let the investment project pass, because he wanted to drag the then chairman of the fund, Patton, into the fire pit.Of course, the Star Ferry will not fail, but it will certainly be reduced from a monopoly to a supplementary position.The entry of the police fund at a high level will only give the Chinese police fund a chance to harvest.
With the sickle in hand, you can cut if you want.
He Dingxian nodded: "Don't look at the net profit of Star Ferry. The monthly increase is actually the last glory. Once the tunnel is opened to traffic in a few years, the passenger flow will be sucked away by the bus line. Instead, the bus company will make a lot of money. "
"Unfortunately, the operation of Kowloon Bus is very good. All three license plates have already been issued, and there is no possibility of meddling in the short term." The completion of Hongsui is indeed a turning point for the bus industry on Hong Kong Island. Wire.
He Dingxian didn't have a chance to start with the license plate that was shining before World War II, so he could only watch. However, Huoxiantang Real Estate is already planning to bid for the Hongsui project, hoping to get a share of the Hongsui incident.
Seeing that the cash cows are about to be squeezed out, the Star Ferry Company must step up to make money
"As far as I know, the Star Ferry's board of directors is very nervous, and there are loud voices internally to raise fares." Qiu Degeng said: "Including the Yau Ma Tei Ferry Company, many managers also want to raise fares."
"In the past, the two ferry companies refused to raise prices. It was not due to the conscience of the capital, but the existence of competition, which benefited the citizens. Now that the industry prospects are not good, the Star Ferry has to give up the price war with the Yau Ma Tei Ferry. .”
"The entire industry will lose half of its life. What's the point of price wars? Of course, the ghosts want to make more money before the red suit is opened to traffic. There are at least seven or eight years before the red suit is opened to traffic, and the price will increase by one cent." (Score) How much can the fare earn? After all, the route from East Tsim Sha Tsui to Central is good, and those who are in a hurry must accept it. Otherwise, taking the Yau Ma Tei Ferry to North Point is also called taking a rickshaw, and the price will be slightly more expensive. "
"The line in hand is good, and the price increase is more confident."
"Besides, the Star Ferry Company also believes that the Yau Ma Tei Ferry will follow suit, so they don't have to worry about losing passenger traffic." A Hung Hom Tunnel project will immediately create a basis for cooperation and mutual trust between the two rival companies.
Sure enough, the enemy is important, otherwise, the nature of the animals will fight each other.He Dingxian didn't say a word, his face was thoughtful, and he said after a while: "Tell the management of Yau Ma Tei Ferry that we must wait for the Star Ferry to increase the fare first, and then we will raise it."
"Business needs to be stable. What's more, we have a license for the transportation of dangerous goods in our hands. We don't do passenger transportation and only focus on energy transportation. The company's profits will not drop. Unlike the Star Ferry, we can only do cruise ships if we don't do passenger ships. .”
"Hehe, if you arrange the chess in advance, you will be more calm in case of trouble."
He Dingxian smiled relaxedly. No wonder bigwigs always talk about forward-looking. Foresight in business is not a small profit that will be effective in one or two years, but five, ten, or 20 years later. of great interest.
"I understand, He Sheng." Qiu Degeng, as the person in charge of the Eastern Bank, won the nickname "Hua Taiban" in the business circle. HSBC, Citigroup, and Standard Chartered are equally famous.
"Remember to let the Star Ferry get some wind, just say we will follow suit." Seeing Qiu Degeng got up and left, He Dingxian ordered lightly.
Qiu De even bowed: "Yes."
In recent years, the main investment directions of the Police Fund and the Chinese Police Fund have actually been in the real estate industry. Since the 60s, the real estate industry has entered the first wave of upsurge, resulting in very impressive income for the two funds, which has brought great benefits to all police officers. A generous wage subsidy.
Police officers with judgment, regardless of their positions, have basically purchased real estate in Kowloon, Hong Kong Island and other places.Although the income of low-level police officers is not enough to join the army of real estate speculators, it is not a big problem to buy a self-owned house.
The hot money of foreign banks and Chinese-funded banks has also poured into the real estate industry, and the price of houses in good locations has more than tripled.Huo Xiantang Real Estate Company intends to launch off-plan properties, that is, to pre-sell real estate properties in advance. First, it can prolong the sales period of new projects and collect funds faster. High turnover of more than one hundredth.It can be said that as soon as the off-plan property system is launched, Huoxingtang Real Estate can be promoted to the leading position of real estate companies within three to five years.
However, after negotiating with Huo Guantai several times, He Dingxian finally suppressed the "uncompleted property" system by virtue of his affection, not because he felt that it was wrong to financialize the property market.Because the financialization of the property market is the direction of the Hong Kong government. Although the "off-plan" system is sharp, it does not mean that other financial means will appear on the market sooner or later.For example, "Instalment Loan", "House Ticket" system, etc., Huo Xiantang does not engage in uncompleted properties, but other people do it.
The key point is that Chinese-funded banks such as Bank of East Asia, Eastern Bank, and Hang Seng Bank are all flocking to the real estate industry with funds, not to mention HSBC, Standard Chartered, etc.
Foreign banks have the right to print money, a large number of customers, a large number of corporate shares, and the support of the parent company. Do Chinese-funded banks have it?Now the reserve fund pool of Chinese-funded banks has dropped to a low point. Except for Eastern Bank, which is consciously controlled above the safety line, HSBC and East Asia are all crazy.
Crazy in a thriving market!
Every project makes money, who would put the money in the vault, why not take it out to make money?However, the aggressive investment strategy of Chinese-funded banks means that all Chinese-funded factories will lose their capital protection. If something goes wrong, the Chinese-funded banking industry will suffer heavy losses.
He Dingxian didn't want to further stimulate the real estate market, and of course he couldn't change the direction of the real estate market, so he had to reach an agreement with Huo Guantai to release the "unplanned property" two years later.Huo Guantai himself was actually a little upset, so he reluctantly agreed for the sake of brotherhood.After all, in two years, he had to earn tens of millions less.
It is very difficult for the police fund to accept investment failure when its income keeps rising. Therefore, if the new Sir Barton's performance is not good, he may have to give up his position as the chairman of the fund.
Naturally, he sat in the position of deputy director for a short time.
October.
The Star Ferry Company formally submitted a fare increase application to the Hong Kong government, intending to increase the price of first-class tickets from 2 cents a piece to 2 cents and 5 cents, while the price of third-class tickets remains unchanged.Once the news was announced, the entire Hong Kong public was in an uproar.Although, the Star Ferry fare increase plan is very cautious. Instead of making a fuss about the third-class ticket, which is the most purchased by the public, it instead increases the price of the first-class ticket, trying to avoid most customers and target those with spending power first.
However, they underestimated the sensitivity of the citizens of Hong Kong Island to livelihood industries. Although Hong Kong Island’s economy developed rapidly in the 20 years after the war, many bosses were fattened and many citizens’ food and clothing problems were solved.However, Hong Kong Island has continuously received new immigrants, and the population has increased by several 10 in the past five years, but none of them has enjoyed the previous dividends, and has become someone else's dividends, and has to work hard with bare hands.It is impossible for them to accept a price increase of 1 cent, let alone a price increase of 5 cents.
"Wen Wei Po", "Ta Kung Pao", and "Oriental Daily" all published editorials on this, hoping that the Hong Kong government can control the ticket price, but the stock of Star Ferry rose accordingly.It can be seen that the capital is ready, and the Star Ferry Company cannot easily give up the application for price increase.
Citizens also have no resistance to capital. If no one takes the lead, they can only passively accept price increases.In the history of Hong Kong Island, the "Star Ferry fare increase incident" kicked off. This time, there was only one large-scale riot caused by rising prices among citizens, also known as the "Kowloon Riot".
At the end of the year, the Hong Kong government announced the appointment of personnel.
(End of this chapter)