中国商业：国美辉煌将成追忆？

归类于： — Eco Team @ 9:08 pm

Business in China
中国商业

Going, Gome, gone?
国美辉煌将成追忆？

Nov 27th 2008 | HONG KONG
From The Economist print edition

China’s richest man disappears, and his company hits a wall
中国首富不知所踪，国美发展遭遇瓶颈

 

 

WHATEVER your notion of what constitutes good corporate governance for a listed company, having an important executive arrested is a problem. But not even being able to say whether, or why, an executive has been arrested is worse. Such is the lot of Gome, China’s largest electronics retailer, with 12% of the market, about half as much again as its nearest rival. In a few months Gome has gone from an example of extraordinary success, as it served China’s pent-up consumer demand, to an example of the murky and fragile state of Chinese business.

对于上市公司来说，无论你对良好公司治理的构成要素持何种见解，重要管理人员被拘留肯定是个大问题，更糟的是，该上市公司甚至不能给出关于其是否被拘留或拘留原因的确切说法。这就是中国最大的电器零售商–国美（Gome）目前的境况，该公司占行业12%的市场份额，约为其最大竞争对手的1.5倍。短短数月，国美已经由中国被抑制的消费者需求下成功的典范沦为中国企业混乱和不堪一击的缩影。

Gome is in trouble partly for reasons beyond its control: the impact of an economic slowdown on clearly chastened Chinese consumers. But it is also at risk because of the way it is managed. In September Gome’s founder and chairman, Huang Guangyu (pictured), was being described as Asia’s equivalent of Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart. The Hurun Report, a newsletter, calculated that he was China’s richest man, with a fortune of $6.3 billion. Approximately $2 billion of that came from a 36% direct stake in Gome, and the rest from a hotch-potch of other investments in property, shares and an unusual private company that owns 450 of Gome’s 1,300 branches.

国美陷入困境，部分缘于经济增速减缓给谨慎的中国消费者带来的影响，这是国美所无法控制的。但公司本身的管理问题也使公司处境甚危。9月，国美电器主席及创始人黄光裕被称为”亚洲的山姆•沃尔顿(Sam Walton)”，后者是沃尔玛 (Wal-Mart)的创始人。据《胡润百富榜》(Hurun Report)统计，黄光裕身价63亿美元，为中国首富，其中约20亿美元来自其持有的约36%的国美股份，其余来自于地产、股票投资以及一家不寻常的私营企业，该私企拥有国美1300多家门店中的450家。

Mr Huang’s business dealings have raised questions in the past. In 2006 he was investigated in relation to a large government loan which was said to have funded Gome’s initial growth. But other than an announcement of exoneration, details of the case were never disclosed. Any residual concerns were allayed to some extent by Gome’s extraordinary growth. In the past two years it has bought out two rivals and opened more than 100 branches. Its revenues grew by 72% in 2007, and increased by 20% in the first nine months of this year, driven by demand for televisions to watch the Olympics and for washing-machines and refrigerators to furnish new homes.

黄先生的业务往来在过去就已经出现问题。2006年，他因一项较大的政府贷款接受警方调查，据说这些资金支撑了国美最初的发展。但除了一则声明无罪的公告，该事件的细节从未揭露。而对此事遗留的关注也由于国美杰出的发展在某种程度上有所减轻。在过去两年，国美收购了两家竞争对手，增开百余家门店。由于观看奥运会对电视机销量的刺激以及新房对洗衣机、冰箱的需求，2007年其收入增幅为72%，今年前三季度增幅为20%。

Along with this growth, however, came an increase in debt, both to purchase inventory and to pay for expansion. Gome’s share price started to fall in June, along with the share prices of other Chinese retailers, as it became apparent that China’s housing boom was losing momentum. On November 18th, for no apparent reason, Gome’s share price parted company from those of its competitors, and the slide suddenly became a rout.

与收入增长一同到来的是债务的增加，国美的存货购进和发展扩张给它带来巨额债务。随着中国房市逐渐失去发展动力，国美股价于6月开始下跌，其它中国零售商股价亦同时下跌。11月18日，国美股价没有任何明显原因的与其竞争者分道扬镳，下滑突然演变成溃退。

Six days later a website run by Caijing, a business magazine, reported that Mr Huang had been detained by police on November 19th for insider trading in the shares of Shandong Jintai Group, a pharmaceutical company controlled by his brother, the share price of which had soared and then crashed last year. Police in Beijing confirmed that Mr Huang was under investigation, but did not give any further details. Other Chinese publications reported that Mr Huang had been detained as part of an investigation into bribes paid to government officials in exchange for the right to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2004. Some reports suggested that political change in southern China, where Mr Huang is from, may have altered the regulatory environment to his disadvantage.

6天以后，商业杂志《财经》（Caijing）运营的《财经网》报道，黄先生已于11月19号遭公安机关拘留，缘于对其兄控股的制药企业山东金泰集团（Shandong Jintai Group）的股票进行内部交易，该股票在去年先大涨后大跌。北京公安已经证实黄先生正在接受调查，但没有透露任何细节。其它中国报刊则声称，黄被拘查是因为涉及向政府官员行贿以获得2004年香港证券交易所（Hong Kong Stock Exchange）上市的权利。也有些报道指出，由于其家乡中国南部发生政治变动，制度环境也产生了对他不利的变化。

In the face of all this speculation Gome has been at a loss. The company could not even confirm whether or not Mr Huang had been detained, saying only that it was “making necessary inquiries” in an effort to “verify the allegations”. Trading in Gome’s shares on Hong Kong’s stock exchange was suspended on November 24th. The stock exchange requires companies to provide information on factors which could affect the share price. Gome’s response is that it cannot provide information it does not have-an argument that may provide legal cover, but is hardly reassuring. Mr Huang himself has vanished.

面对所有的这些猜测，国美显得茫然不知所措，他们甚至不能证实黄先生是否被拘捕，仅声称他们正在”做必要的调查”以”核实传言”。而国美股票也于11月 24日在香港证券交易所停止交易，待影响股价的相关信息公布后方可开始交易。国美的回应是他们不能提供他们不知道的信息，这是一个合法的借口，但很难令人信服。而黄本人也不知去向。

Gome’s big suppliers have pledged their support for the company. They would certainly not want to lose such a big distributor in today’s difficult economic climate. Gome’s accounts show that a large bond must be refinanced by May 2010. No one extends credit these days without feeling confident about the recipient. If Gome does not change, it will be gone.

国美的大型供货商已表示，将继续为国美提供支持，在如今艰难的经济气候下，他们肯定不愿失去国美这样的大型分销商。但国美账户显示，到2010年5月，有大量债券到期。现如今，假使对借方没有信心，任何人都不会发放贷款。如果国美不进行变革，它的所有辉煌都将成为过往。