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SCMP Reporter

RONALD Arculli offers to forgo his Legislative Council pay rise as means to control inflation and the Hong Kong Institute of Personnel Management's co-director Patrick Maule claims top bosses are doing less well in pay rises than shop-floor staff.

   Next, surprise, surprise the Employers Federation and General Chamber of Commerce says it's belt tightening time and pay rises should be one per cent below inflation this year.

  Funny that these things should come so close together - and funnier still that they didn't come out a bit earlier, as they usually do.

  But then it might have been a bit more tricky for Ronald and the troops to claim that the fat cats were being robbed.

  Just to remind ourselves, the findings of the Sunday Money directors' pay survey in mid-September showed that directors pay at Hang Seng Index firms rose by double the rate of profits.

  Directors dished themselves up average pay rises of 38 per cent with top greed-heads more than doubling payouts. And the Personnel Management survey disagrees sharply with the findings of Price Waterhouse which reported this year that average pay rises for senior managers at Hong Kong's top multi-nationals was 22.4 per cent.

 Another interesting fact is that Mr Maule announced another pay survey back in February - a survey of 53 banks and firms with more than 100 staff finding that last year employees had a smaller real increase in wages than 1993.

  In the United Kingdom, The Sunday Times has been calculating how 'overpaid' certain bosses are.

  According to the paper, Sir Richard Greenbury, who compiled a report on the issue of remuneration, was overpaid by GBP119,559 at GBP807,000. His company made net profits of GBP624 million in the last financial year so he is being paid 0.12 per cent of profits.

  By contrast, the chief executive of one local firm was paid $30 million out of profits of $472.9 million or more than 6.35 per cent of net profits.

 Perhaps, if instead of worrying about the percentage of pay rises dished out, companies look more closely at the value of money the decisions represent there will be less problems.

  For example, a 10 per cent pay rise for an executive earning $2 million a month is $200,000. Instead of being added to the director's pay packet, it could be split in to 100 pay rises of $2,000 a month for workers on the median wage of $7,500 a month giving them pay rises of 26.6 per cent.

  Fat chance A CONTINUING supply of exciting business opportunities in Nigeria continues to flow Lai See's way from kind-hearted readers willing to forgo the millions of dollars they are offered for nothing more than supplying their bank account number and letter head. Name of the week is Mr Lucky Obote, but we were interested to see the name Dr Frank Peters on an MK 1 Nigerian Petrochemical company scam letter. Perhaps the people sending this out fear that they are getting a low response rate due to racism and a mythical expat manager at a Nigerian company will somehow seem more trustworthy.

  A few readers have also asked how this information can be used to empty bank accounts. Surely an international bank wouldn't simply hand out the cash?   Yeah right. And international banks don't take large cash deposits with no questions asked and allow customers to open multiple accounts in a variety of exciting names of many nations.

  The fact is that banks aren't nearly as careful of signatures and the like as you might believe.

  Unless you have given your bank instructions to telephone you before making any big movements, instructions in a letter with a reasonable forgery of your name are quite likely to be followed.

  And if you are unlucky enough to be caught in either a forged cheque or Nigerian account emptying scam, you might find your bank isn't terribly sympathetic. Banks have a habit of telling customers that their signatures are too easy to forge and explaining that they weren't defrauded - you were.

  We checked with an expert on fraud about what kind of signature should be adopted. Unfortunately, there isn't a conclusive answer. While many handwriting experts say a complicated signature is hardest to forge, others say a simple signature is harder.

  Best just to keep sending the Nigerian direct marketing to us.

  Numbers up PIONEER Industries Holdings is one of those 'special situations' that some investors look for.

  The company is a little property investor with interests in Wah Kwong Shipping and securities trading. It is active in China through K Wah and also has a joint venture in Burma.

  The Gaw family owns 21 per cent of the firm while Cheung Kong holds 10 per cent, according to the Wardley Cards. Michael Sandburg, former chairman of HSBC Holdings, owns 1.96 per cent.

  Pioneer has one interesting asset. It has a 3.77 per cent stake in Bangkok Bank held at a book value of $347 million. In this year's annual report, the company said the shares had shown an appreciation of value of $2.3 billion over the book cost. Deutsche Bank London, Liverpool Limited Partnership and Illiad Partners claim to hold more than five per cent of Pioneer. They want to see the stake sold off.

  The Gaw family at first had trouble finding the correct holdings in the register and spent some time refusing to talk to the group's representative. They also don't think it is a good idea to sell.

   But a delegation is now planning to come over from New York and has made direct contact with the Gaws.

  We spoke to Liverpool Limited Partnership's Vincent Intrieri who said: 'We're coming over and hopefully we will be talking to Mr Gaw. If we don't get our way we will be demanding a meeting.'  What is more Mr Intrieri now reckons that stockholders representing 10 per cent or more of the stock are backing the rebel shareholders' plan.

  Let's hope the shareholders he represents are close friends with Cheung Kong's Li Ka-shing.



Small pay-rise pressure a matter of timing