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Ben Kwok

Young fast movers find there's more to life than Ferraris
At first glance, it looked like a Ferrari fan club list. So it came as a bit of a surprise that the individuals involved would be doing charity drives.
Today  marks the founding of Centum Charitas Foundation, led by Henderson Land Development vice-chairman Peter Lee Ka-kit and a group of 39 others - mostly men below 40 from ultra-wealthy families.
Hong Kong's largest group of princelings has a mission to band together for good civic causes locally and on the mainland, its first project being the creation of an online donation platform:  www.charity-online.org.
We gathered that membership falls into four categories. First is the executive membership, comprising five vice-chairmen, including Douglas Woo Chung-kuen of Wheelock and Lee Man-chun, chief executive of Lee & Man Paper.
Then there are five voting members, including Tomson Group director Carlson Tong Ka-shing and Xinyi Glass director Lee Shing-put.
The Bank of East Asia's scions -
general manager Adrian Li Man-kiu and his brother Brian Li Man-bun - as well as New World Development director Cheng Chi-kong and Henry Fok's Foundation vice-president Fok Kai-kong are among the founding members.
Lastly, six individuals who don't have tycoons for daddies also were invited to join.
As for the membership fee, it is half a million for most categories, much less than a Ferrari, or perhaps even a drinking party.
So for such an NGO, perhaps even the fund-raising work itself could be most exciting.
China Life can do with cover
Call it a curse in disguise. Shares of China Life Insurance, which announced it would report  profit growth of more than 50 per cent for last year, fell 7.35 per cent yesterday to HK$29.  This is not surprising, considering that its first-half earnings had soared 260 per cent.
We noticed that out of the top 10 mainland corporations that made a surprise profit announcement this month, nine saw a drop in share price yesterday.
PetroChina fuels investor ire
Not only did the surprise profit preview lose its magic, so did the return of H-share corporates to the A-share market.
Less than three months ago, PetroChina broke several records upon listing  in Shanghai, including ranking briefly as the world's biggest company by market capitalisation.
Consider its turn of fate since. PetroChina's A shares peaked at 48.60 yuan in the first minute of its domestic debut. By yesterday,  that value had halved to 24.45 yuan.
Although some A-share shareholders still are sitting on paper profits, many who bought from the open market are  complaining of big losses.
Little wonder that PetroChina's headquarters in Beijing has been receiving between 200 and 300 calls every  day. We overheard that many of these calls were from investors expressing deep concerns over the share price.
PetroChina  has more than 1.8 million   shareholders.
Stepping forward for pay cut
How can a blue-chip company produce a better profit?
Simple - cut costs. And if  that's not enough, cut the directors' bonus.
That was what happened to footwear manufacturer Yue Yuen Industrial, whose top five directors saw an average of a 15 per cent decrease in emolument last year.
Chairman Tsai Chi-neng received US$1.28 million, down 16 per cent. With the boss taking less, so  did most of his executives.
As a result, the total director fees were reduced by US$1.14 million.
That perhaps explains why Yue Yuen, despite seeing a rise in all operating costs, managed to eke out a 1.6 per cent growth in profit to US$359.4 million.
Retirement nest egg
Who  wouldn't like to be Michael Ying Lee-yuen?
The Esprit founder decided to start his  retirement, relinquishing his non-executive role yesterday after stepping down as chairman last year.
Since serving at the helm in 1993, Mr Ying, 58, has led a tiny apparel franchise to blue-chip status and acquired its franchisor for Asia, Europe and ultimately the United States along the way.
Esprit shares rose from HK$2 in the early 1990s to more than HK$100 last year.
He cashed out HK$11 billion in shares in four rounds, and still owns shares worth about HK$10 billion , or 8.7 per cent of Esprit.
So long, Michael, you are so rich.



Lai See