On Saturday, Lin Zhichao came to the pier in Sai Wan to inspect the "Fu He Xing" of Li Gaofu and others.
Fu He Hong currently not only engages in the "Hong Kong-Weihaiwei-Japan" trading business, but also opened a shop at Sai Wan Pier to solicit goods for ship owners.
The so-called cargo soliciting can also be regarded as a shipping agency. Many shipowners in Hong Kong only have one ship and they will not even dock, so they need people on the shore or shipping agents to solicit cargo for them.
Fu He Xing, founded by four people including Li Gaofu and Huang Tinggui, has gained some popularity in the Hong Kong docks in the past six months. Many people in the industry know that they have made a lot of profits in the Hong Kong-Weihaiwei-Japan trade.
In this era, whoever has the ability to make money is the benchmark in the industry.
"How is the business doing?" Lin Zhichao asked.
He was preparing to buy his first ship, so he came to inspect Fuhe Bank in advance because he planned to let Fuhe Bank collect goods for him. The first ship was just for Lin Zhichao to test the water and familiarize himself with the shipping experience.
So we can only do it on a small scale, that is, buy about 1,000 tons, and the investment is small.
Once his shipping company has more ships, he will naturally open his own shipping company, open up fixed routes, lease them to customers on a long-term basis, and adopt a variety of business methods to go hand in hand.
Huang Tinggui said: "Not bad! Lin Sheng, if you buy a boat, we guarantee that your boat will not stop."
He knew that Lin Zhichao could be regarded as Li Gaofu's nobleman and had the favor of supporting him. Li Gaofu was also the helmsman of Fuhe Bank. Although everyone decided on the proportion of shares based on capital contribution, the other three partners all respected Li Gaofu very much.
Because it was Li Gaofu who came up with the current trade routes.
Fu He Xing is already on its sixth voyage, and has made more than 750,000 in profits (300,000 divided among them) in the previous five voyages. The partners are very motivated.
Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "As expected of someone from a trading family, it's rare that the business is on track so quickly!"
Li Gaofu is more at the helm of Fu He Xing, while Huang Tinggui is responsible for cargo and docks, and the other two partners also perform their respective duties.
This kind of cooperative enterprise is very common in Hong Kong and has many advantages; such as Hang Seng Bank, Dachang Trading, Bank of East Asia, etc., almost all of these enterprises are partners.
"Lin Sheng deserves the award. Everyone works together and Brother Gao Fu is the chief rudder, leading the brothers to make a fortune." Huang Tinggui said modestly.
He understands that without Li Gaofu, they would not know where to invest even if they had money. Moreover, in terms of the current trade route, Fook Ho Hing is the first one in Hong Kong. With this vision and information, the three of them are very good.
I admire Li Gaofu, the chief helmsman.
Little did these people know that Lin Zhichao was their benefactor, but of course Lin Zhichao didn't take it to heart.
Lin Zhichao, Li Gaofu and Huang Tinggui came to the dock again, mainly to accompany Lin Zhichao.
In fact, during this period of time, Lin Zhichao has been learning shipping and related knowledge. Of course, he can only ask others for superficial advice, but he is not considered a layman after all.
Standing on the pier, a group of workers are busy. Hong Kong is a trading port, and all the piers are very busy. Many ships entering the port need to wait at sea until there is a berth before docking to unload.
Many of these dockworkers were teenage children and women, and their eyes were blinded by the weight of the heavy cargo. From time to time, British soldiers boarded the ship to inspect, wearing shorts and leather shoes, holding a long gun, and flashing
At the tip of the knife, these people are in positions that are well-oiled and profitable.
"Shanghai is about to be liberated, and the whole country will soon fall into their hands. The trade in Weihaiwei may not last long. So, what are your plans?"
A mere canvassing business can make a lot of money, but it can't support that many people. Fu Hexing, on the other hand, has almost a dozen clerks.
Li Gaofu said very assertively at this time: "We have also considered this issue. Everyone's idea is to make two more trips to trade, and then try to buy a ship, a thousand-ton class; we will also rely on that ship for our meals in the future, and then we will try to buy a ship."
Do other mainland trade."
Before the second half of 1950, the trade between Hong Kong and the Mainland was very prosperous; then it declined rapidly after the peninsula war began, but smuggling also emerged as a channel.
Lin Zhichao nodded and said: "This is a good idea! Boats are portable assets and are backed by insurance companies. They are a good investment direction."
Suddenly, Lin Zhichao thought of a good idea.
"By the way, since you guys have no money now, I happen to be planning to buy a thousand-ton ship. Let's just form a partnership and invest 50/50 in the purchase. One year later, I will sell you 50% of the ship's shares at the original price.
How about it?"
The reason why Lin Zhichao did not immediately invest in the shipping industry was to develop shipping more safely and seize the best opportunity, and the first half of 1950 was the best time to buy ships.
Li Gaofu immediately said: "I feel very good about this cooperation! In this way, we can have the ship immediately."
Then he couldn't help but look at Huang Tinggui, meaning that he could cooperate.
Huang Tinggui thought about it, this cooperation is indeed good, the big boss wants to learn from experience, and they can share the risks for a year.
What's more, Li Gaofu has already spoken, and this face must still be given to the helmsman.
"Okay, let's go back and notify the other two partners and try to take action immediately."
Lin Zhichao nodded!
He also recently confirmed that Li Gaofu and others' trade with Weihaiwei did not cause any serious consequences.
As for Yingjiang, there won't be any action. After all, it's not a peninsula campaign.
Therefore, it is not a big problem if everyone jointly holds the ship for one year.
Just as the three of them were chatting happily, they came across a group of people accusing one or two people, which seemed to have caused some public outrage.
Curiosity prompted the three of them to walk over!
"Liu Sheng, why are you so angry?" Li Gaofu greeted him immediately when he saw an acquaintance.
When a shipowner surnamed Liu saw Li Gaofu, he immediately smiled. The two had cooperated once. He knew what kind of business Li Gaofu and others were doing, and it was very big.
"It's Li Sheng, Huang Sheng. The situation is like this. This Zhao Sheng from Shanghai Stock Exchange owns a 3,500-ton ocean liner. But when he first arrived in Hong Kong, in order to attract goods, he lowered the freight, which affected everyone's business.
Interests, today we will discuss it with him."
People from Guangdong Province are locals in Hong Kong and naturally have local advantages. This does not mean that people from other provinces cannot do business, but you cannot disrupt the industry.
It's that simple!
The shipowner surnamed Zhao could only apologize to everyone and said that he would rectify it; he was not convinced and was unfamiliar with the place, so how could he offend these local snakes!
At this time, Li Gaofu immediately took out the famous post and handed it to the shipowner named Zhao, and said: "Sheng Zhao, we are in the business of soliciting goods for the shipowner. If you are not familiar with the local business, you can consider us."
This move immediately put some shipowners out of trouble. The first was that they had learned a lesson anyway, and the second was to save face by betraying Li Gaofu.
If this Shanghai captain could hire people from Guangdong Province to collect goods, everyone would naturally not be in trouble.
Zhao Congyan immediately took the name card happily, and after looking at it for a few times, he said: "That's great! Don't worry, everyone, after this incident, I already know the rules here, and I promise not to break them again."
"Okay, Captain Zhao is right to think so!"
"There is nothing much you can do to improve if you know your mistakes"
Several captains stopped their crusade one after another. It was impossible for them to really do anything to Zhao Congyan. It was more of a warning.
If Zhao Congyan continues to solicit goods at low prices, he will be targeted by many peers, and it will be difficult to gain a foothold in Hong Kong shipping.
This incident is not aimed at people from other provinces, but Zhao Congyan has indeed broken the rules.
At this time, Lin Zhichao had already learned Zhao Congyan's identity, but he did not expect that "Ship King" would have such an episode.
So, he also walked over.
"Hey, it's Lin Sheng! We don't know Taishan. We didn't know you were coming to the dock. We just left you alone!" A ship owner recognized Lin Zhichao and said happily immediately.
The two of them had not done business directly. He could recognize Lin Zhichao obviously because Lin Zhichao already enjoyed a certain degree of popularity in Hong Kong's business circle.
Seeing that his companions were a little confused, the shipowner immediately introduced Lin Zhichao in a grand manner - a zipper tycoon and a real estate tycoon. He immediately made Lin Zhichao's deeds public. He seemed to know Lin Zhichao personally, and he acted like "I have a lot of connections"
.
Although the other shipowners did not know Lin Zhichao, they knew the word "Lin Zhichao" very well, so they all greeted him warmly.
On the other side, Zhao Congyan left and stayed, standing there a little embarrassed. He secretly slandered that he was really bullied by dogs when he fell down, and he was still a figure in the Shanghai stock market.
Moreover, he is a practicing lawyer, but it is of no use in Hong Kong because the law here is British law.
"Haha, thank you! I will soon become a small ship owner like you, and we are all peers." Lin Zhichao said modestly.
Everyone expressed their welcome!
I don't know what I think in my heart.
Later, Lin Zhichao greeted Zhao Congyan again: "Don't worry, Mr. Zhao, we people in Guangdong Province are very particular about fairness when doing business. Don't take this matter to heart today. Everyone abides by industry rules. Naturally, anyone can do business freely in Hong Kong."
Trading port.”
When other shipowners saw this, they all echoed and expressed their generosity!
Zhao Congyan immediately said gratefully: "Mr. Lin is right. This situation occurred because I didn't check for a while. I will ask all colleagues to supervise and make progress together in the future."
"To the extreme! To the extreme!"
Soon, everyone calmed down and several shipowners left one after another.
As for Zhao Congyan, Lin Zhishanshan didn't have much desire to get acquainted with him. He just took advantage of the trend and sold well. He aspires to be the world's shipping king, and he will inevitably compete with the four shipping kings of the Shanghai faction, and it will be '1VS4'.
Of course, the four ship kings of the Shanghai style are not in the same group. They all do their own thing.
Lin Zhichao and others also left, leaving behind a helpless Zhao Congyan, who was almost beaten by a group of people just now.
This also made him understand that the locals in Hong Kong are very powerful, and if they want to survive, they have to follow their rules.
"Let's go"
Finally, Zhao Congyan left with his men.
In the new week, Lin Zhichao came to the office building of Changjiang Real Estate.
Changjiang Real Estate has not developed a new project for a long time, but it still has 21 employees and has two property management projects, which can be considered a stable source of profit. At the same time, some of the original employees have been assigned to management of property companies.
.
As for the remaining people, Yangtze Real Estate will naturally not fire anyone. The Finance Department has been supervising the finance of Yangtze River Bank, and the Engineering Department has undertaken some external projects. If there is nothing to do, they will arrange more study and understand the market conditions.
Zhou Fuzhao came to Lin Zhichao's office and greeted: "Boss"
Lin Zhichao nodded, and then said: "The Yangtze River Bank wants to withdraw 6 million Hong Kong dollars in funds. Please help me convert all the money into US dollars and deposit it into a US dollar account. I will invest it later."
Zhou Fuzhao immediately said: "Okay, I will find out the best channel right away and let you know."
With so many U.S. dollars, I'm afraid only HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Merrill Lynch can exchange them, but I don't know which one has the cheaper handling fee.
"Well, report to me if you have any situation."
With such a huge deposit, Jian Dongpu would naturally come to ask Lin Zhichao personally, but Lin Zhichao already had a plan and was destined to miss the Bank of East Asia.
What's more, it is impossible for Lin Zhichao to deposit all his money in the Bank of East Asia, and his eggs cannot be put in one basket. Handing over the capital transactions of Cheung Kong Holdings to the Bank of East Asia is already a return of support for the past few years. After all, everyone achieves each other's achievements.
As for Lin Zhichao, he converted everything into U.S. dollars and kept it in a U.S. dollar account. He estimated that the pound will depreciate in the second half of this year, so if he does not convert it into U.S. dollars, it will depreciate by 30%.
Anyone would be heartbroken to lose so much wealth all of a sudden.
After these Hong Kong dollars are converted into U.S. dollars, Lin Zhichao will continue to arrange funds for Cheung Kong Holdings and also convert them into U.S. dollars to avoid asset reductions.
After a while, Hu Zhaoxu came to Lin Zhichao's office.
"How is the housing situation outside recently? Is anyone starting to build a private housing estate?"
Hu Zhaoxu shook his head and said: "They are all quite cautious. Although there are stratification and installment methods now, everyone continues to use the 'Four Hot Meats' method. Mainly because the land price is too high, and secondly, since Hong Kong added new recruits last year, everyone has also
I am vaguely worried about the future of Hong Kong.”
The so-called speculation on the four hot meats means that the owners build 2 to 4 five-story tenement buildings, no more than 4, because they are worried about risks.
In fact, currently, residential buildings cannot be higher than 5 floors. This alone determines that real estate is not very profitable. In addition, land prices are rising, so real estate is still not a hot spot.
But in any case, due to the emergence of "stratified installments", there are more and more property owners in Hong Kong who are "speculating on four hot meats". Overall, there are probably thousands more properties than in the previous life.
"Continue to inquire more and sort out the information. When the time comes, I will make a big move in buying real estate." Lin Zhichao warned.
Hu Zhaoxu immediately nodded and said, "Okay!"
Later, Hu Zhaoxu said: "Boss, the two owners next to the Cheung Kong Industrial Factory in Tsuen Wan are interested in selling the surrounding land. They approached me and said that it only cost 6 Hong Kong dollars per square foot. They also said that with the increasing population of Tsuen Wan, the land price is only
It will be more expensive, so let’s buy it as soon as possible.”
Lin Zhichao laughed and said: "For that poor place, the land price can be even more expensive. They have a good idea. You reply to them that Cheung Kong Industrial has an area of 250,000 square feet, which is enough for the factory. As for their land
, you can choose to sell it externally.”
In fact, 120,000 square feet is enough, and the additional 120,000 square feet purchased will be reserved for factory expansion in the future. As for the surrounding land, it is impossible for the current owners to sell it to themselves at a high price.
At the same time, the JF Army went to Guangdong Province to see if they could lower the price. They were afraid that they would have to sell it to Lin Zhichao even for 4 Hong Kong dollars.
The land boom in Tsuen Wan started in 1950. At that time, the Shanghai entrepreneurs who came to Hong Kong officially built factories one after another. At the same time, it was not until the beginning of the Peninsular War that Eagle Sauce's Seventh Fleet set off for Taiwan, and the 'Hong Kong Island Crisis'
It was considered lifted because the Hong Kong government believed that since the Americans came to Asia, they would never ignore anything that happened in Hong Kong.
"Well, I will tell them." Hu Zhaoxu replied.
Lin Zhichao also hopes to win the 200,000 square feet of land from the two owners, provided that the price is not high. If it is taken, it will be 'marinated' to slowly expand the factory. In the 1970s, it can be used for construction again.
Large housing estates and commercial buildings.
But if the price is too high, it will obviously not be cost-effective given Lin Zhichao's current financial resources.
On Wednesday, Lin Zhichao came to the Yangtze River Bank to inspect the accounts.
Li Shau Kee, Zhou Fook Zhao and Ah Hao are all here. Only these three people are in charge of a net worth of 7 million at the same time, so Lin Zhichao can rest assured. Among them, Ah Hao is the financial manager, Zhou Fuzhao is the financial manager, and Li Shauji is the person in charge. All three of them need to be responsible for Lin Zhichao at the same time.
After all, this is the Yangtze River Bank with a net worth of 7 million, which is the vast majority of Lin Zhichao’s assets.
"Have all the accounts been checked?"
Zhou Fuzhao nodded and said: "Not bad at all! Yangtze Real Estate took away 6 million Hong Kong dollars, leaving 688,000 gold speculation funds, and the store assets are 225,000 Hong Kong dollars."
Lee Shau Kee also smiled and said: "This delivery was relatively smooth. Those merchants who bought our gold had no choice but to deliver the goods because they did not want to lose money immediately. If they buy back the gold, they can still wait for the appreciation in value."
There is some truth!
However, sometimes the gold and silver trading center will take the initiative to let some contracts be delivered (too many times) because there are too many contracts and it is inconvenient to handle.
Next, Lin Zhichao learned about the market and found that gold had dropped to just over HK$550 per tael, which can be said to have dropped by almost HK$60 in ten days.
Of course, the price also increased by HKD 120 in the previous month, which is quite exaggerated.
"Now that gold has stabilized, I plan to buy it," said Lee Shau-kee.
Anyway, he didn't have much money left, so Lin Zhichao said directly: "You can do whatever you want!"
"OK"
In this way, Cheung Kong Industrial withdrew a huge sum of 6 million from the Yangtze River Bank. After receiving the money, Lin Zhichao and Zhou Fuzhao immediately went to HSBC.
A British manager received the two men because they were big clients.
"Mr. Lin, Mr. Zhou, if the 6 million Hong Kong dollar deposit of Cheung Kong Holdings is converted into US dollars, the handling fee is 1.5%. This rate is already very favorable. Because we need big customers like Mr. Lin."
Beforehand, Zhou Fuzhao had communicated with the Smith manager and learned that it was Lin Zhichao. HSBC immediately paid attention to it. Although British banks and foreign banks looked down on Chinese people in this era, Lin Zhichao was already an upper-class figure among the Chinese. How could they?
will be looked down upon.
Lin Zhichao immediately said: "Director Smith, after converting it into US dollars, I will continue to deposit it in your HSBC bank. I will need overseas payment and other services in the future."
Smith is the director of the foreign exchange department, so he immediately said: "I can introduce you to a business manager. Don't worry, our HSBC bank has a very good reputation and overseas payments are also very convenient."
This was what Lin Zhichao was interested in, so he quickly handed over one-stop business to HSBC, that is, exchanging U.S. dollars and depositing them into a U.S. dollar account.
In the end, Lin Zhichao received US$1.4665 million!
The exchange rate of US dollar to Hong Kong dollar is 1:4.03.
Compared with losing 1.5% in handling fees, Lin Zhichao is more concerned about the fact that the pound will depreciate by 30%, and the Hong Kong dollar will also depreciate by 30%.