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Lai See

When a passing gale stops a city, it's time to take stock

David Webb, Hong Kong's lone shareholder rights activist and editor of webb-site.com, complains of 'another lost day of productivity in HK as everything shuts down for a passing gale'. He observes on his site that Hong Kong's weather-related shutdowns hark back to a time when most buildings were made of wood rather than concrete, and the only way to travel between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon was by ferry. 'It is high time we raised the thresholds so that we don't shut down the city unless conditions are much worse,' he says, adding that if the far windier UK adopted the same standards, it would be working a three-day week on a regular basis. This could be a tough one for the government. Most business owners would probably agree with Webb, but the prospect of a day off is popular with people. Given this dilemma, the government is likely to do nothing - unless, that is, it thinks Beijing will disapprove. Governing Hong Kong can be so difficult.

Our news is bigger than a T8

New World China Land (NWCL), an offshoot of the New World group, must have felt pleased with itself yesterday. Although the No8 signal was hoisted and most events were called off, NWCL was not to be denied some limelight, and plans for its annual results press conference were unchanged. In some respects, the results were the company's best in some years. Although net profits were up 19 per cent to HK$3.14 billion, and revenues rose 116 per cent to HK$13.6 billion, the biggest increase occurred in what the company calls its core profits - which exclude various fair-value gains and non-recurring items. Core earnings rose from HK$709 million to HK$2.9 billion - an increase of 300 per cent. It was worth 'braving' a No8 to get that message out.

A prominent man

Liang Wengen has recently attracted publicity since he was ranked by Forbes and Hurun Report as China's richest man. In addition, he is possibly going to be the first entrepreneur to be appointed to a senior post in the communist government. He also has the distinction of shelving the US$3.3 billion IPO of his company, Sany Heavy Industry, which would have been the second-largest in Hong Kong this year after Glencore.

In 2006, he attracted publicity for publicly speaking out against plans by the Carlyle Group to acquire 85 per cent of Sany rival XCMG Construction Machinery, saying that it would hurt the interests of private Chinese construction machinery makers like Sany, according to Forbes. Accordingly he offered to acquire XCMG for 30 per cent more than Carlyle's bid, only to be rejected. The Carlyle deal never came to fruition, and it gave up in 2008.

In 2006, XCMG was a bigger construction machinery company than Sany. However, since then, Sany, of which Liang owns 58 per cent, has prospered to such an extent that it has now overtaken XCMG to become the mainland's biggest construction machinery maker. It would perhaps have found its current position of prominence harder to achieve if Carlyle had got its hands on XMG.

Ashes and Doritos to ashes

There have been some curious burial rites in the past, but having Doritos sprinkled over your ashes must be one of the more unusual ways to pass to the other side, if that is what happens. Arch West, the retired Frito-Lay executive credited with creating the first national tortilla corn chip brand, died recently from natural causes at the age of 97. His remains have been cremated, and his daughter has said that the family plans on 'tossing Doritos chips in before they put the dirt over the urn'. 'He would think it is hilarious,' she said. Once you start this sort of thing there is no saying where it will lead. When Birds Eye executives die, will they be sprinkled with frozen vegetables so they can 'rest in peas'?

Trains are time to unwind

Forget the laptops, iPads and BlackBerrys that seem to preoccupy busy road warrior executives. Most business commuters spend time staring at others or gazing out the window, and as little as 10 per cent of the time is used productively. This finding was submitted by the British Department for Transport to a parliamentary inquiry into plans for a high-speed rail network, said The Daily Telegraph. Another study, by the University of the West of England, found that 46 per cent of business travellers stared at the countryside or at other passengers, and 43 per cent read for leisure.

The Venerable Master Hsing Yun, a Buddhist monk, quotes with approval the saying: 'One should study 10,000 books and travel 10,000 miles of road.' For his part, 'the purpose of travel should not be materialism but should instead be intellectual and moral cultivation'.

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