Biz Scene

MARKET

Share sale

Financial Street Holding Co Ltd said it will raise 8.3 billion yuan by offering 300 million shares priced at 27.61 yuan apiece, to invest in five commercial real estate projects.

Financial Street's main business is property development, management and rentals in Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Nanchang and Huizhou.

The five projects require an investment of 11.2 billion yuan, but the company is short by more than 9.1 billion yuan of that target.

Options plan

Air conditioner firm Midea has launched a motivation initiative, offering 19 of its executives 30 million options at 39 yuan apiece.

But the plan still needs approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the company's board of directors. Midea tried to bring in the options plan in 2006, but failed to get the nod from the CSRC.

If the plan goes through this time, the 19 executives are expected to reap profits of 600 million yuan, based on the company's annual sales growth rate of 30 percent.

BIZ MOVES

Danone chief quits

Emmanuel Faber, chief operating officer of Danone and president of its Asian operations, has stepped down as chairman of the joint venture between the French food giant and Wahaha, China's largest drinks maker.

The two companies are in talks to find a replacement. Faber will become vice-chairman of the venture.

Danone appointed Faber to replace Zong Qinghou, president of Wahaha, as the venture's chairman in June last year, amid a bitter dispute between the two.

New chairman

China Great Wall Computer Group Corp (Great Wall Group) appointed Lu Ming as chairman and president of Great Wall Technology Co Ltd (Great Wall Technology), a subsidiary of Great Wall Group.

Lu Ming is one of the founders of Great Wall Group. He is also general manager of Great Wall Group and president of Great Wall Technology.

BIZ UNUSUAL

Outside the box

Cardboard boxes are proving to be a good earner for Sun Ying, who's made 300,000 yuan from her online box business in 18 months.

Sun set up an online grocery store in 2004, but she had to close down because she was losing money.

She later came across an online seller advertising for cardboard boxes.

Sun realized almost every online vendor needs boxes of various shapes and sizes to shift their wares.

Aggressive marketing has since brought many customers to her website.

Hot tips

A restaurateur in Shangyu, Zhejiang province is raking in the profits after he asked diners for help.

A net profit of 400,000 yuan for the past six months is on the menu for Gan Yonghua, who runs a 100-sq-m hot pot restaurant, after he advertised for suggestions to improve his business, offering a 1,000 yuan prize.

Gan took some of the suggestions on board and now his hot pot restaurant is busier than ever.

Soup diet

Chickens sold in markets usually sell for 20 to 30 yuan. But if they come from Zhou Baoxian's farm in Zhejiang province, they will cost 120 to 150 yuan.

Zhou spent 30,000 yuan building a chicken coop in 2003. He feeds his chickens a soup made with traditional Chinese medicine.

Through trial and error - and a little help from his doctor father - he has come up with the recipe he now uses to feed more than 10,000 chickens a day.

His special soup costs him 500 yuan a day, but Zhou earns about 400,000 yuan a month selling his high-quality chickens.

Whiskey school

Scottish whiskey maker John Dewar & Sons began a two-week class on Saturday in Guangzhou, teaching consumers how to drink whiskey.

Participants can take the drink home with them and learn the history of Scottish whiskey.

The class is part of Dewar's marketing campaign to educate drinkers new to the liquor and boost its sales in China, the world's third largest luxury goods market, experts said.

Despite aggressive expansion in China, global liquor makers have been slow to crack the market, as local brand awareness is low.

LOCAL

New highways

Liaoning province will invest 11.4 billion yuan to build nine new expressways spanning 680 km this year.

Nine expressways stretching 1,081 km are already under construction in the province and five could be ready this year.

The expressways will form a network with the capital Shenyang at its center, connecting all the province's secondary cities.

The province is expected to invest 24.7 billion yuan to improve its transport network this year.

CPI concern

Zhejiang province is trying to prevent its CPI from going up in the first quarter, its governor said.

The local government has asked authorities not to raise power, water, transport and education costs.

In December, Zhejiang's CPI increased 0.6 percent over the previous month, the provincial government said.

Higher pay

Salaries in Guangdong province are expected to rise by an average 12.9 percent compared with 2006 wages, the provincial labor and social security office said.

Guangdong has the largest number of migrant workers in the nation, with 26.2 million in the province last year - that's one-fifth of the nation's total.

In 2006, the provincial government raised salaries by an average 17.8 percent. At the beginning of last year, migrant workers earned 1,298 yuan a month on average.

Chengdu forecast

By 2012, the total output value of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, is expected to reach more than 600 billion yuan, and the annual disposable income of urban residents will be 21,000 yuan, according to a municipal government report.

In 2007, the output value and annual disposable income of the city's urban residents was estimated at more than 332 billion yuan and 14,800 yuan, growing by 91 percent and 65 percent from 2002, said the report.

(China Daily 01/17/2008 page15)