Wenn man das liest dan kann man nur investieren!!!!!!!1
Chairman's Statement :
This past year was a memorable one both for Hong Kong and for the Company. The new Hong Kong Government demonstrated firm determination in dealing with the Asian financial crisis. While facing possible criticism from all sides, the government resolutely interfered with the market and prevented the Hong Kong economy from declining further. Facts now prove that it was a correct decision. It also indicates that while maintaining a free economy, a more important principle can not be neglected; which is, at crucial moments when the market lacks direction, the government should initiate its leadership role. The quick recovery of the Hong Kong business sector is largely a result of these decisive actions. The Company was also affected by the financial crisis. Short of a better solution, we requested most holders of convertible notes of the Company to convert their bonds into shares. We also invited Citic Guoan Company Limited to complete their investment in the Company. Their support improved our financial position significantly. In June of this year, the Company succeeded in placing new shares and raised new funds of HK$150,000,000, which also contributed to our successful encounter with the financial crisis. We will continue to adopt a conservative policy of debt reduction to further improve our financial state. As in the last financial year, we have made large-scale provisions in the books this year for possible losses. The purpose is to ensure that the financial statements to conservatively reflect the state of affairs of the Company. We expect that such provisions will not recur. If we manage to dispose of other land properties of the Company as planned, the results for the coming year will improve.
The experience in the past two years manifests the importance of an appropriate asset combination. When the market situation deteriorated suddenly, the lack of liquidity in assets was a fatal blow to a company that relied on the long-term increase in the value of fixed assets. With this understanding in mind, and given the importance attached by the public to the information technology sector (the Internet in particular) and the relevant experience of our major shareholders in this sector, we decided to significantly modify the direction of the Company. The market has reacted positively to this re-direction. The share price of the Company picked up to a more reasonable level, leading to excess applications for new shares in the Company. With the generous support of our shareholders, the Company has succeeded in its re-orientation and established a new comprehensive investment portfolio and one of the best management teams in the industry. The Internet is a new industry with great potential. It has fundamentally changed many aspects of our economy and has generated wealth for many corporations. The major shareholders of the Company, including myself and Citic Guoan Company Limited, share substantial related experience in this sector and have successfully lead the Company through a smooth transition. We will establish a strong foundation for the Company in the years to come by concentrating on the following four aspects: - First, we will adopt a coporate principle that upholds share value as the standard. In other words, to enhance the market value of our shares will be the goal of our operation. In this respect, we have taken the first step and are preparing for further growth in the next stage. We have engaged financial experts to present the Company to old and new shareholders to enable them to better understand our potential. I believe that their understanding of the Company will turn into long-term support. - While placing emphasis on the value of the shares, we also attach importance to the liquidity of our shares. The number of shareholders of the Company has largely increased in the past few months. We will continue our effort in this area and motivate the interest of more investors, thus indirectly enhancing the market liquidity for our shares.
- The Internet is a new-sprung industry. It is particularly at an incipient stage in the Chinese language market. The American experience tells us that in order to obtain the greatest return in this domain, we have to be the leader in this industry. There is only one way to be the leader, and that is to secure the support of most consumers in the relevant market. We believe that our products and services are qualified for such leadership. With appropriate strategies and proper implementation, such leadership can be ensured.
- As Internet publishing and Internet services are newly risen industries, it will not be easy to achieve operating profit in the short term. However, we have attended to different stages of development in our strategy: the short-term advantages of network infrastructure, the mid-term return from network services and the long-term accumulation of market share in the network media. The organic combination of these components forms a steadily expanding profit base. As we already have made favorable arrangements in these aspects, the opportunity of success in this business is immense.
The Internet business depends more on the management team than any other industry. Even though we benefit from the advantages provided by our shareholders, but in order to accomplish our goals more effectively, we are recruiting technical, media and market management staff in Hong Kong, Mainland China, the USA and Taiwan. We have also established an employee share option scheme to encourage management staff to participate actively in generating greater share value for the shareholders of the Company. The share option scheme will be implemented after obtaining the approval of the Stock Exchange and the shareholders.
In order to enable a better understanding of the Company for shareholders and investors and to increase corporate transparency, we have set up our own corporate website. We hope to establish a direct communication channel with our shareholders through this website. This website will finalize its construction very soon. We hope that our shareholders will make full use of this newly established website to contact our management team, to make suggestions and to voice opinions.
Once again, I express my sincere gratitude to the shareholders that have given us their enormous support over the last couple of years.
YU Pun Hoi
Chairman
Chairman's Statement :
This past year was a memorable one both for Hong Kong and for the Company. The new Hong Kong Government demonstrated firm determination in dealing with the Asian financial crisis. While facing possible criticism from all sides, the government resolutely interfered with the market and prevented the Hong Kong economy from declining further. Facts now prove that it was a correct decision. It also indicates that while maintaining a free economy, a more important principle can not be neglected; which is, at crucial moments when the market lacks direction, the government should initiate its leadership role. The quick recovery of the Hong Kong business sector is largely a result of these decisive actions. The Company was also affected by the financial crisis. Short of a better solution, we requested most holders of convertible notes of the Company to convert their bonds into shares. We also invited Citic Guoan Company Limited to complete their investment in the Company. Their support improved our financial position significantly. In June of this year, the Company succeeded in placing new shares and raised new funds of HK$150,000,000, which also contributed to our successful encounter with the financial crisis. We will continue to adopt a conservative policy of debt reduction to further improve our financial state. As in the last financial year, we have made large-scale provisions in the books this year for possible losses. The purpose is to ensure that the financial statements to conservatively reflect the state of affairs of the Company. We expect that such provisions will not recur. If we manage to dispose of other land properties of the Company as planned, the results for the coming year will improve.
The experience in the past two years manifests the importance of an appropriate asset combination. When the market situation deteriorated suddenly, the lack of liquidity in assets was a fatal blow to a company that relied on the long-term increase in the value of fixed assets. With this understanding in mind, and given the importance attached by the public to the information technology sector (the Internet in particular) and the relevant experience of our major shareholders in this sector, we decided to significantly modify the direction of the Company. The market has reacted positively to this re-direction. The share price of the Company picked up to a more reasonable level, leading to excess applications for new shares in the Company. With the generous support of our shareholders, the Company has succeeded in its re-orientation and established a new comprehensive investment portfolio and one of the best management teams in the industry. The Internet is a new industry with great potential. It has fundamentally changed many aspects of our economy and has generated wealth for many corporations. The major shareholders of the Company, including myself and Citic Guoan Company Limited, share substantial related experience in this sector and have successfully lead the Company through a smooth transition. We will establish a strong foundation for the Company in the years to come by concentrating on the following four aspects: - First, we will adopt a coporate principle that upholds share value as the standard. In other words, to enhance the market value of our shares will be the goal of our operation. In this respect, we have taken the first step and are preparing for further growth in the next stage. We have engaged financial experts to present the Company to old and new shareholders to enable them to better understand our potential. I believe that their understanding of the Company will turn into long-term support. - While placing emphasis on the value of the shares, we also attach importance to the liquidity of our shares. The number of shareholders of the Company has largely increased in the past few months. We will continue our effort in this area and motivate the interest of more investors, thus indirectly enhancing the market liquidity for our shares.
- The Internet is a new-sprung industry. It is particularly at an incipient stage in the Chinese language market. The American experience tells us that in order to obtain the greatest return in this domain, we have to be the leader in this industry. There is only one way to be the leader, and that is to secure the support of most consumers in the relevant market. We believe that our products and services are qualified for such leadership. With appropriate strategies and proper implementation, such leadership can be ensured.
- As Internet publishing and Internet services are newly risen industries, it will not be easy to achieve operating profit in the short term. However, we have attended to different stages of development in our strategy: the short-term advantages of network infrastructure, the mid-term return from network services and the long-term accumulation of market share in the network media. The organic combination of these components forms a steadily expanding profit base. As we already have made favorable arrangements in these aspects, the opportunity of success in this business is immense.
The Internet business depends more on the management team than any other industry. Even though we benefit from the advantages provided by our shareholders, but in order to accomplish our goals more effectively, we are recruiting technical, media and market management staff in Hong Kong, Mainland China, the USA and Taiwan. We have also established an employee share option scheme to encourage management staff to participate actively in generating greater share value for the shareholders of the Company. The share option scheme will be implemented after obtaining the approval of the Stock Exchange and the shareholders.
In order to enable a better understanding of the Company for shareholders and investors and to increase corporate transparency, we have set up our own corporate website. We hope to establish a direct communication channel with our shareholders through this website. This website will finalize its construction very soon. We hope that our shareholders will make full use of this newly established website to contact our management team, to make suggestions and to voice opinions.
Once again, I express my sincere gratitude to the shareholders that have given us their enormous support over the last couple of years.
YU Pun Hoi
Chairman
