Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 149 [See if you can make a fortune]

Mid April

Hehong Real Estate Company and Gong Guoyan signed a transfer contract, and Hexiang Trading Company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hehong Real Estate Company.

根据合祥贸易公司的实际资产值1.57亿元，和鸿地产公司在收购案上消耗资金1亿2千6百万元，其中6百万是支付给李琦琦的1成溢价，可以说和鸿地产公司赚到了3千1百万元。

A trading company is very different from a gas company and a real estate company. Luo Qihong is thinking about how to deal with and manage those original employees.

Luo Qihong usually treats newly acquired companies by pulling one group in and beating another. This obviously doesn't work for trading companies. The people he has have no experience in this area, and trading companies have a large number of overseas testing and distribution points. It is safer to contact these people through familiar staff.

"It seems that I have to use gentle tactics." Luo Qihong muttered to himself as he looked at the personnel report submitted by Hexiang Trading Company.

So he started writing down some of the key points of the meeting in his notebook to prevent himself from forgetting them halfway.

Hexiang Trading Company Meeting Room

There were only six people in the meeting room, three of whom had Japanese appearance. They were naturally representatives of Isuzu Motors, who were discussing the car agency rights with Luo Qihong.

"Mr. Luo, congratulations on your acquisition of Hexiang Trading Company!" Isuzu Motors representative Sasaki said in Japanese.

"Thank you! I also welcome Mr. Sasaki to Hong Kong!" Luo Qihong smiled slightly. In fact, he hated the Japanese from the bottom of his heart, but he had to do business with them. After all, the car agency project contained huge profits.

The two sides chatted for a while, all about normal local news.

"Mr. Luo, your company wants to obtain the agency rights of our Isuzu, which is not a big problem, but we hope that your company can build two auto repair shops, preferably in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon city." Sasaki said seriously.

Listening to the translator's words, Luo Qihong said, "I looked through the previous negotiation records. I remember that you asked to build a car repair shop. Why do you want to add one now?"

Adding a car repair shop would cost tens of millions of dollars, which would be a huge burden for Hexiang Trading Company.

Hehong Real Estate has a lot of cash in its account, but this is not real idle funds after all. Instead, it is loan funds misappropriated from the acquisition of China Gas Company, which needs to be repaid in a few months.

Although the trading company makes money, it may not be able to bring 1 million yuan in revenue to Hehong Real Estate Company in a few months.

Sasaki explained, "Mr. Luo, Hong Kong has a population of 5 million and is the financial center of East Asia. The development of the retail industry will inevitably require more vehicles. The sales volume of vehicles is closely related to some hardware measures, and repair shops are one of them. Two repair shops for 5 million people are not enough."

"Mr. Sasaki, the land in Hong Kong is expensive. Hexiang Trading Company can hardly afford to build and operate two repair shops. I think Isuzu Motors has just started to sell in Hong Kong, so the scale should not be too large. Otherwise, the agency will be overburdened and it will easily cause unnecessary trouble." Luo Qihong said, "It was for this reason that the original boss, Mr. Gong Guoyan, did not agree to the conditions for building a repair shop."

"I agreed because I think car agency can bring good profits. If we have to build two car repair shops, Hexiang Trading Company may not be able to afford it and will have to withdraw from the agency project."

Sasaki was a little dumbfounded. He was thinking of completing the task in excess so that he could return to Japan to collect the reward, but Luo Qihong turned around and threatened him.

If he fails to broker this cooperation and enter the Hong Kong market, Sasaki will definitely be held accountable by his opponents when he returns to the headquarters. After all, Luo Qihong had already expressed his willingness to build a repair shop when he contacted the headquarters.

"Mr. Luo, I'm not trying to make things difficult for you. This is something that is beneficial to everyone." Sasaki still didn't give up. He suspected that this was Luo Qihong's plan.

"Mr. Sasaki, the request for two repair shops is impossible. To be honest, the construction of one repair shop has already put Hexiang Trading Company at great risk. If we are not careful, we will suffer losses. Otherwise, how could Mr. Gong Guoyan reject your conditions?"

After constant negotiation, Sasaki agreed to the plan of "building a repair shop first and then another one three years later", but the location of the repair shop was still under discussion because it involved the sales volume of Isuzu cars in Hong Kong. According to Luo Qihong's plan, the first repair shop was planned to be built in the fringe of Kowloon or in Sai Wan Ho and Sai Wan area of ​​Hong Kong Island.

The land prices in these areas are slightly cheaper, which can greatly alleviate the financial difficulties of Hexiang Trading Company.

As for Isuzu Motors' marketing stores, Luo Qihong plans to place them near Causeway Bay and Sesame Street in North Point. Although the property rents in these two places are very expensive, the traffic flow is very good, which can well promote the reputation of Isuzu Motors.

in the office
The newly recruited senior executive Zhang Renjie came in and reported some things to Luo Qihong.

"Mr. Luo, the company currently has 1 million yuan in funds available for use. When the next batch of profits comes in, we will have another 7 million yuan available for use." Zhang Renjie sat down and reported very seriously.

Zhang Renjie was originally a senior executive of Hexiang Trading Company. After Luo Qihong bought the company, he was the first to surrender, and his two departments were very cooperative, even though Luo Qihong transferred some employees' original positions.

"I have decided to open our first agency in the area of ​​Seven Sisters Street in North Point. There are many car sales points there, which can help us bring in some traffic." Luo Qihong said thoughtfully.

Originally, the location of this agency had to be discussed with Sasaki, but Luo Qihong also had the power to make decisions, and North Point was the best choice in the entire Hong Kong Island and Kowloon urban area.

"Okay, I'll take people there tomorrow to select a location." Zhang Renjie's square face didn't smile at all. "How do you plan to promote Isuzu Motors?"

Luo Qihong thought for a moment and asked, "Do you have any good ideas?"

He still planned to listen to Zhang Renjie's advice, perhaps he really had some good suggestions.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Renjie shook his head and said, "I don't have any good suggestions. They are just some common promotional methods. It's better to ask for suggestions from all employees of the company. Maybe there will be unexpected gains."

Luo Qihong nodded and said, "Okay, go and make an announcement. Anyone who has good suggestions and can make a big difference will be rewarded 3 yuan by the company, and will also enjoy a 9% discount on the purchase of Isuzu cars."

There must be a brave man under the heavy reward!

If Isuzu cars can be sold well, Hexiang Trading Company will probably make a profit of more than 1 yuan.

Zhang Renjie was stunned, thinking that Luo Qihong was much more generous than his former boss Gong Guoyan. If Gong Guoyan were in charge, he might not be willing to give 1 yuan as a reward, not to mention the 9% discount on Isuzu cars.

"Yes! I'll arrange for someone to post the notice right away." Zhang Renjie said, "Is there a time limit?"

Luo Qihong thought about it and realized that even if he found a store tomorrow, he would still need to carry out a series of renovations, which would take at least a month. So he smiled and said, "Yes, the deadline is one and a half months."

After Zhang Renjie left, Luo Qihong's smile faded and he began to think about how to make Isuzu Motors break out in the Hong Kong automobile market.

The competition in automobile sales in Hong Kong is very fierce. Not to mention the automobile brands represented by large trading companies such as Jardine Matheson and Hengchang Enterprise, some mid- and low-end automobile brands are desperately cutting down profits to compete for the market.

While Isuzu Motors' vans and trucks are excellent, its sedans are a bit of a letdown.

Isuzu cars are much inferior to brands like Volkswagen and Honda, and their prices are not much cheaper than Honda. Fortunately, during the negotiations, Luo Qihong had suggested to Sasaki to lower the price of the cars and make it as lower as possible than brands like Honda and Volkswagen.

(End of this chapter)