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David Evans

Public relations agency Hill & Knowlton  could be guilty of breaking the industry's equivalent of the 10th Commandment from the Book of The Dark Side.

Apparently it broke the cardinal rule - Thou shalt Not Juggle Two Airline Accounts.

The story so far:

Hill & Knowlton in Hong Kong looked after the British Airways/Qantas  local account while the group as a whole handled the global account for Continental Airlines.

Unfortunately, the airlines became unhappy with something they shared - Hill & Knowlton.

What to do?

The answer was simple, BA/Qantas called tenders for their account and moved to rival Edelman.

According to someone familiar with the faux pas: 'It's truly unfair because [H&N] worked so hard for both.'

According to someone at Edelman: 'Yes, yes, yes. I can't confirm any of that.'

According to the airlines: 'Please leave a message after the tone . . .'

According to an industry source: 'They did WHAT?'

Egging them on: There is no such thing as a free lunch but if you're a floor trader at the Hong Kong stock exchange you could be in for a free breakfast.

In a ringing endorsement of the exchange's upgraded electronic trading system, AMS/3, traders are staying away in their ones or twos.

In fact, numbers have been dwindling on the trading floor for a number of years, as dealers abandon the traditional venue for the comfort of their own offices.

'The bigger houses are opting to stay at home where they can have all their traders in one office,' a broker said.

Unfortunately, less traders on the floor means fewer breakfasts being sold at the in-house tuck shop.

Also, the case of the disappearing trader doesn't look good when companies launch their IPOs.

Imagine CNOOC executives gazing across Hong Kong's trading floor at the company's US$8.65 billion debut only to be faced with a couple of rusty chairs, a few blunt pencils and some gently swaying cobwebs.

So, in order to kill two birds with one stone, the exchange is offering free brekkies at IPOs.

Apparently, the great breakfast give-away is a good incentive to get traders on the floor particularly when VIPs are visiting.

Mega bite: WHOOOOSH.

What was that?

That was your Internet revolution, mate.

October 2, 1999: Pearl Oriental Holdings announces its name will change to Pearl Oriental Cyberforce  to reflect the change in the group's business focus from property development to the Internet.

The group, one of the first property firms in Hong Kong to invest in the Internet, said it planned to sell property worth HK$4 billion and invest the money in the Internet.

February 26, 2000: According to chairman and substantial shareholder Wong Kwan:  'A child blowing water from his mouth is a bubble. Hundreds of thousands doing it makes a mighty river.

'The Internet revolution will change the way people live.'

Monday: The group proposes to change its name back to Pearl Oriental Holdings after reporting losses to shareholders of approximately HK$1.11 billion.

Graphic: whee25gbz



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