WHEELOCK Marden is expected to announce its management team this week. New managing director John Hung said three senior executives would be appointed to head the revitalisation of the trading firm. ''The nucleus of the team will be in place by August 1,'' said Mr Hung. ''Wheelock Marden does virtually nothing on the trading side at the moment, but it was a big name and it has certainly not been forgotten.'' Mr Hung became an executive director of World International and Wheelock Marden head in a corporate reshuffle last week. He was previously an executive director at sister company Wharf Holdings. Rebuilding Wheelock as a distribution force within China would add a fourth leg to the World chair. Seventy per cent of the firm's profits come from Wharf, in which it has a 40 per cent holding. Further contributions come from property arm World International Development and from upmarket retailer Lane Crawford, which is 66 per cent owned by Wheelock Marden. Wheelock was bought by the World/Wharf group in 1985 and is in the curious position of being a private company that holds a public firm, Lane Crawford. Mr Hung said his main role would be corporate development and that he would not become involved in the day-to-day operations of Lane Crawford. Last week the retailer announced a 26 per cent increase in profits to $122.9 million. It is believed that the new Lane Crawford store in Times Square will target younger buyers and widen its customer base. ''It is not just the tai-tais who can afford to shop there. Lane Crawford has turned around. It needs a bit of sex appeal to bring it on, just to jazz it up,'' said Mr Hung. Corporate affairs specialist Mr Hung said he would be able to quickly change perceptions of World because of the support and profit contribution from Wharf. World's stock trades at a price earnings (P/E) ratio of 12.78 times, compared with 19.12 times atWharf. ''World doesn't have the same degree of presence as Wharf. It has a great deal of upside, although on the trading side, there may be volatility,'' he added. Mr Hung played a big hand in improving the market perception of Wharf. One of the things he is most pleased about is that the stock is no longer regarded as a laggard. When the share price of Wharf Holdings overtook that of long-time rival Hutchison Whampoa, Mr Hung is said to have cracked open a bottle of champagne. ''A lot of people think it is hype, it is PR. I differ. It is corporate development. You go and tell your story to the market, you don't only tell a story, you listen to what people tell you about the company, and you make changes where necessary,'' saidMr Hung. His most difficult moment was the collapse of the Hongkong Cable Communication consortium in 1990. The day after the highly-publicised failure, Mr Hung vowed that Wharf would be back, but this time driving the project rather than as a consortium member. Three years later Wharf Cable is ready to go on air. ''The cable collapse was tough. We didn't like it because Wharf had never failed to deliver a franchise. In the end, we didn't fail, we just had a bit of a hiccup,'' he said. Mr Hung said the structure of Wharf was now clearly understood by investors - the only untidy part being the duplication of hotel interests of Wharf and those of its subsidiary Harbour Centre. A bid to privatise Harbour Centre was frustrated earlier this month when Wharf failed to win sufficient shareholder backing. It is believed the renegade shareholders were led by investor Hui Sai-fun who is said to control about eight per cent of Harbour Centre. Mr Hung would not comment on this.
