indicators for superman's year ahead can be found hair and there
Could it be a case of Samson and the struggling ports-to-retail global conglomerate? For those who think the fortunes of big Hong Kong companies share little in common with Old Testament heroes, think again.
Last summer chairman Li Ka-shing sported a sharply trimmed crew-cut and his share price promptly performed miserably for three months. Interestingly for stock pickers with an eye for biblical matters the same period saw chief financial officer Frank Sixt enter a hair-related wager with the firm's Italian 3G partner. Although Mr Sixt lost, this was happily the result of the Hong Kong firm selling lots of 3G phones.
Recent times have seen Mr Li become much more bullish on his stock and in the final weeks of last year he snapped up 6.27 million Hutchison shares at between $71.26 and $72.66 each for about $395 million. The stock closed at $73 yesterday, a three-year high.
But will the company pull out of the hat to ensure headline profits maintain their strong record, offsetting mounting 3G losses? Investors reckon a sale of Husky Oil or even Cheung Kong Infrastructure could be on the cards.
It should be noted that the follically challenged Mr Li might not quite be sporting a full head of hair, but his mop is certainly looking a good deal bushier.