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karrie does the right thing with appeals to those chasing a safe bet

Small ones in Hong Kong are rarely more juicy. At least that's the case with third-line stocks that frequently have the juice sucked out of them through dodgy connected transactions and incredible directors' fees.

It's hardly any wonder that death-spiral share price collapses among small caps is an almost daily event.

Hence we were encouraged to see tiny personal computer and server maker, Karrie International, trying to do the right thing. In an apparent Hong Kong first, it is holding an open day  pitching its wares and prospects to the small time investing public.

'Second and third-liners, and we know that we do not attract enough coverage,' a company spokesman told us.  'We have to be innovative to survive.'

Its target market is upright middle-class investors looking for a safe bet rather than a tipster-inspired punt.

The firm has an impressive track record despite a pretty mixed share performance over the past  year. With a market value of about $1 billion it was the smallest player among Asia Money's list of best-managed Hong Kong firms last year.

We wish it  well, but Lai See is a seasoned watcher of hopeful small-cap transformation stories. Proof of integrity comes after a firm has resisted the temptations of a high share price.

clsa speaks on speaker list

CLSA chairman Gary Coull has taken umbrage at Lai See's observation that next week's investor forum speaker list lacks celebrity value. He tells us that former United States president Bill Clinton was supposed to appear, but cancelled at the last minute due to his heart surgery.

Funny that the firm's marketing machine kept this one under their hat until after  he came out of hospital.

Peoples boss keeps the faith

China Resources' Peoples Telephone has been a  miserable performer in  Hong Kong's recent initial public offering rush.

Its share price has fallen 30 per cent since listing and its sponsor ABN Amro recently dropped coverage of the stock, grumbling about poor transparency.

That has not deterred executive vice-chairman Michael Leung Kai-hung, who has been a serial trader since the April 1 listing with  80 separate purchases.

In five months, Mr Leung has increased his stake in the firm to 18.43 per cent, having bought  15.72 million shares.

Yesterday saw another disclosure that he had added a further 50,000 shares at $3.30 compared with the listing price of $4.55.

Asking about his portfolio performance, Mr Leung seemed unrepentant: 'I think Peoples will be a good investment.'

The company has promised a dividend pay-out this year and offers a forward yield of 8 per cent.

Uncertainties lie ahead as we move into the 3G era, but it's nice to see the boss is keeping the faith.

making money for charity

Stockbrokers are generally known for making money, not donating it.  So we were pleased to hear guests at the Asian Broker Awards Dinner in April coughed up $1.2 million for charities Crossroads International, Hong Chi Association and Operation Smile.

Benefactors - including JP Morgan, Citigroup, CLSA and Barclays - will formally hand over the cash to the charities on Tuesday.

The trustee for the event, Andrew Riddick, tells us: 'A large part of the evening is given to poking fun at the industry through awards celebrating the Worst Corporate Deal of the Year and Most Embarrassing Research Recommendation, by far the most important point of the evening is to encourage people to give generously.'

bank chief misses big day

Commonwealth Bank chief executive David Murray was supposed to sign a A$25 million (HK$134.7 million) deal delivering it an 11 per cent stake in Jinan City Commercial Bank in Shandong, but was curiously missing.

Alas we read in the Sydney Morning Herald that Mr Murray was stranded in Hong Kong with a debilitating bug and could not make the bank's big splash up north.

A terse response from the Australian bank noted: 'We don't comment on the personal position of any of our staff.'



Lai See