Chapter 150 - Spending Money Like Water, Out of Cash Again
After handing Huafeng Cement Factory over to Qingzhou Cement Company, Burton moved quickly.
The very next day, he personally led part of Qingzhou Cement's management team to formally take over Huafeng Cement.
Meanwhile, Director Xiao of Huafeng Cement was officially incorporated into Qingzhou Cement's management team as a mid-level manager.
Originally, Huafeng Cement was just a small factory, and Qingzhou Cement was a major operation.
Being transferred from factory director of a small plant to a mid-level manager at a major company was not considered a demotion — on the contrary, it meant broader future prospects for Director Xiao.
Although sales at Huafeng Cement had improved since Lin Haoning's side stopped pressuring them, profits had only recovered to a modest 100,000 Hong Kong dollars per month — an amount Lin Haoran now considered negligible.
Rather than letting it limp along like this, it was better to move Qingzhou Cement's operations there in the future.
After all, running a heavy-polluting cement plant right in the city center, and on Victoria Harbour's prized coastline no less, was clearly no longer appropriate.
Three days after returning from Yuen Long, Su Zhixue called Lin Haoran with an awkward update:
"Boss, there's no more money left in the trading account."
No money left — meaning they could no longer continue acquiring Hongkong Electric shares.
Lin Haoran frowned. Would he have to go back to the banks for another loan?
After all, he really had little cash left at hand.
In July, after acquiring the 44 million shares from that Hongkong Electric shareholder, he was left with about 210 million Hong Kong dollars.
By August, after fully privatizing Qingzhou Cement and Wanan Group, he paid off 85 million Hong Kong dollars to Huoduo Li Company.
That covered the absorption of nearly 24% of Qingzhou Cement's shares and nearly 10% of Wanan Group's shares, plus some interest and administrative fees.
Thus, both companies were now fully privatized.
Although a few minority shareholders refused to sell, it didn't matter — their shares were now practically worthless, and when they finally decided to sell, they would have to do so at the last recorded privatization price.
Three days ago, Lin Haoran had also repaid 52.5 million Hong Kong dollars in loans and interest to Yumin Finance Company.
Thus, his available funds were down to just over 70 million Hong Kong dollars.
Over the past two months, that 70 million was gradually spent by Huanyu Investment Company buying up Hongkong Electric shares.
"How many Hongkong Electric shares do we hold now?" Lin Haoran asked.
"Boss, we currently control 118.8 million shares, about 18.86% of Hongkong Electric's total shares.
Over the past few months, their share price has steadily risen. We've been careful not to acquire too aggressively, but the share price is now 2.85 HKD per share," Su Zhixue reported.
"Okay, understood. I'll solve the funding problem. I'll notify you once more money is deposited," Lin Haoran said.
After hanging up, Lin Haoran sighed.
Money — it was never enough!
Thankfully, the loan from Hang Seng Bank still had two years remaining.
Otherwise, if that loan matured now, he would have even bigger funding issues.
He needed to continue acquiring Hongkong Electric shares.
If he slowed down, not only would his costs increase, but the share price might rise uncontrollably.
For instance, two months ago, the shares were around 2.4 to 2.5 HKD.
Now they had already climbed to 2.85 HKD.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before they hit 3 HKD or higher.
Lin Haoran knew: the more shares he acquired now, the easier it would be to seize control later.
He also knew that next year the share price would rise even faster.
Until the 1982 real estate collapse, Hong Kong's stock market would remain wildly bullish.
Right now, raising cash wasn't difficult for Lin Haoran.
Any bank would welcome him eagerly.
Moreover, Wanan Group and Qingzhou Cement held substantial properties and land assets.
Selling a small portion could easily raise huge sums.
But Lin Haoran wasn't willing to sell now.
The value of those properties would skyrocket soon — far more profitable to wait.
The real issue was timing.
He needed to absorb Hongkong Electric shares slowly.
If he moved too aggressively, it would alert the market, causing the share price to spike prematurely.
If he couldn't complete his takeover before the price doubled, it would be disastrous.
Currently, the pace was just right.
If he could endure another three months, the golden opportunity would arrive.
That's why Huanyu Investment had only spent 70 million buying just over 20 million shares these past two months.
No money?
That's easy — he could pull funds from Aimeigao Company.
In early July, Aimeigao had distributed 80 million HKD in dividends.
Now it was mid-September.
Since that dividend, Aimeigao had been raking in profits nonstop.
In July alone, Aimeigao earned over 50 million HKD — its highest monthly profit ever.
And in August, they broke that record again:
More than 60 million HKD in profits.
Compared to May, their profits had literally doubled.
North American and European markets were booming for Aimeigao.
During these two months, Aimeigao was making money hand over fist.
Even though it was now September, and orders had slightly decreased, the volume was still comparable to July.
Such insane profits — if exposed — would shock all of Hong Kong.
Fortunately, Liu Luanxiong was shrewd enough to keep it quiet.
Other manufacturers selling to North America also kept their mouths shut.
Everyone understood: if too many manufacturers flooded into North America, competition would drive down profits.
Middle Eastern markets had already suffered from that.
As for why orders had exploded?
Simple: oil prices.
This month, international crude oil prices surpassed 40 USD per barrel.
In less than a year, prices had soared from around 12 USD to 40 USD — an insane increase!
Back in June, Lin Haoran had sold his oil holdings for 1.4 billion USD, netting 7.42 billion HKD.
If he had held on until now, they would have been worth 1.92 billion USD — 10.2 billion HKD.
In just over three months, Lin Haoran had missed out on nearly three hundred million in profits.
However, he had no regrets.
Because the funds he had freed up ahead of time had already earned him massive returns in the gold futures market.
Moreover, he had used that money to secretly become a major shareholder of Hongkong Electric Company, now controlling nearly 20% of the shares.
Aside from that, the funds had also been invested in many other ventures.
Therefore, selling the crude oil early was completely worthwhile.
In everything, there are gains and losses — as long as it seemed worthwhile to him, that was enough.
The crazy surge in oil prices had naturally triggered a chain reaction, plunging many industries into crisis and worsening the global economic downturn.
As the economy declined, people's incomes shrank drastically — even in the developed countries of Europe and America.
Particularly, these developed nations faced soaring unemployment rates due to the oil crisis.
Not only that, but prices also continued to rise, with inflation growing ever more severe.
Thus, national governments called for frugality, and individuals tightened their belts.
Despite this summer's intense heat, many struggling families could not bear to use air conditioning.
According to news agency reports, this year's air conditioner sales had plummeted compared to last year.
Many air conditioner manufacturers, thinking that this year's hot weather would boost sales, stocked up heavily during spring.
But after summer arrived, sales were disappointing, leaving many manufacturers stuck with excess inventory and suffering heavy losses.
Without air conditioning, people obviously needed alternatives to deal with the heat.
Electric fans became the number one choice.
Although fans weren't as cool as air conditioners, they were good enough to survive the heat.
More importantly, fans used far less electricity and were much cheaper — their cost-performance ratio was vastly superior.
This was the real reason why the fan market had exploded so wildly this summer.
By the end of July, even the production capacity of two entire industrial buildings was not enough to keep up with the overwhelming order volume.
After discussing it with Lin Haoran, Liu Luanxiong decided to lease another industrial building.
Three industrial buildings operating nonstop finally met the production demand.
Compared to the tiny cost of renting another building, it was far more important to seize the opportunity and fulfill as many orders as possible.
After all, such golden opportunities did not come often.
Thus, Lin Haoran once again arrived at the Aimeigao factory in Kwun Tong.
Inside the factory, it was a scene of frenzied activity.
These past few months, Lin Haoran had been visiting the factory more frequently.
Although he wasn't there every day, he usually came once or twice a week.
Whenever Liu Luanxiong had to travel to Europe or America on business, Lin Haoran would step up his visits.
Although he didn't know much about managing a fan manufacturing company, just showing his presence as the boss was enough.
Arriving at Aimeigao's office, Lin Haoran didn't immediately seek out Liu Luanxiong — he was probably busy in one of the workshops.
Instead, he first went to find Aimeigao's CFO, Lai Meihui.
Checking her loyalty value, Lin Haoran found no issues, indicating she could still be trusted.
After the last corruption scandal involving Qingzhou Cement's CFO, Lin Haoran had become even more reliant on his "loyalty detection" golden finger.
Normally, it wasn't very useful, but at critical moments, it proved to be invaluable.
"Lai, how much money does the company have in its accounts now?" Lin Haoran asked directly upon entering the finance office.
"Mr. Lin, we currently have 136.52 million Hong Kong dollars in cash, and another 13.92 million in accounts receivable.
The outstanding payments will be settled in three days once our shipments arrive at the buyers," Lai Meihui reported crisply.
Lin Haoran nodded, unsurprised.
He had been visiting the company often these past two months and already had a good grasp of Aimeigao's financial situation.
With the numbers confirmed, Lin Haoran had a plan in mind.
He left the finance office and went to the lounge to have some tea while waiting for Liu Luanxiong.
About half an hour later, Liu Luanxiong, having learned of Lin Haoran's arrival, hurried back to the office.
"Haoran, you're looking for me? What's up?" Liu Luanxiong asked curiously, still dripping sweat from rushing around the workshop.
"Yes, Ah Xiong, there's something I'd like to discuss," Lin Haoran said, pouring him a cup of tea.
"Go ahead, just say it," Liu Luanxiong replied, sipping the hot tea.
Nowadays, his confidence had grown immensely alongside his soaring wealth.
"Our company now has over 130 million Hong Kong dollars just sitting in the accounts.
Keeping such a large amount idle is wasteful — why don't we distribute it as dividends?" Lin Haoran said bluntly.
Each of them would receive over 60 million Hong Kong dollars — enough to keep Huanyu Investment Company running for a good while.
By the time they spent most of that money, Aimeigao would have more profits ready for the next dividend.
If all went well, they could stretch until the golden harvest from the futures market arrived.
"Agreed. I was just about to suggest the same thing," Liu Luanxiong said cheerfully.
"By the way, thank you again, Haoran, for advising me to invest in land.
I spent the 40 million Hong Kong dollars from the last dividend on land, and guess what?
A real estate developer offered me 50 million to buy it!"
"In just two and a half months, I made 10 million Hong Kong dollars — doing nothing but sitting on land!
It's unbelievable how easy it was.
Of course, I refused the offer.
You said property prices would keep soaring, so I'm holding on.
When we distribute this next dividend, I'm planning to buy even more land."
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