Business
Policy Address 2022: John Lee announces new visa to trawl the world for young talents
- 2022-10-19
- Politics
- The Young Reporter
- By: Yixin Gao、Bella DingEdited by: WANG Jingyan 王婧言
- 2022-10-19
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu unveiled a series of policies to attract young talents worldwide amid a brain drain caused by the COVID-19 quarantine restrictions and political situation. Lee said in today’s speech that the government would extend the IANG visa, which allows non-local graduates of Hong Kong universities to stay in the city while job hunting, from one year to two years. The visa will also be extended to those students graduating from the universities whose campus is located in the Greater Bay Area in the mainland. "Over the past two years, the local workforce shrank by about 140,000,” Lee said. More than 113,000 residents have left Hong Kong since June 2021, according to the latest data released by the Census and Statistics Department in June. Haywood Guan, director of the Hong Kong Quality And Talent Migrants Association, said that some induction procedures are slow because of the pandemic as even if companies decide to hire non-local graduates, they might not be able to handle their entry process immediately. “One year is too short for me to find an ideal job in Hong Kong. There could be fewer working opportunities,” said Zhang Yunhan, who is now studying for a master's degree in finance at Lingnan University. The new policy boosts students’ confidence to stay in Hong Kong after graduation, said Guan. Han Liuchenxin, a final-year undergraduate student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, said that this policy attracted him most as the visa extension could give him a sense of safety if he cannot find a job in Hong Kong immediately after his graduation. “It is a symbol of stability which could increase my possibility of working here,” said Han. Keith Lee, chairman of Yau Tsim Mong Youths Society, added that Hong Kong could reserve …
Policy Address 2022: Elderly Health Care Voucher enhanced but still lacking
- 2022-10-19
- Politics
- The Young Reporter
- By: Yuchen LI、Man TSEEdited by: Kylie Wong
- 2022-10-19
To improve the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme, John Lee promised to expand its coverage and amount, while increasing the quota for the Residential Care Homes for the Elderly (RCHEs) next year. The voucher amount would be raised to HK$ 2,500 per year from the previous year’s HK$2,000. The voucher amount in 2018 and 2019 was HK$ 3,000. The enhanced Scheme allows holders of such vouchers’ spouses to enjoy its services. New services include medical procedures by audiologists, dietitians, clinical psychologists and speech therapists. This could potentially help grassroot elderly, according to Yuen Wai-kee, assistant professor of the Department of Economics and Finance at Hong Kong Shue Yan University. Elderly aged 65 or above with a Hong Kong Identity Card or equivalent identification by the Immigration Department are eligible to use the Voucher for primary healthcare services. “Some elderly people need long-term medication, such as Cholesterol medicines. This would cost them around HK$ 200 per month. This could be a substantial amount, burdening the more grassroot elderly,” said Yuen. However, this is only adequate for elderly who require basic medical care or occasional clinical visits, Yuen added. For more advanced or private healthcare, they should seek other governmental subsidies, Yuen explained. “The HK$ 2,000 Elderly Health Care Voucher is insufficient, because we often feel unwell and need diagnosis and medications. The voucher will soon be used up after going to the clinic about 4 times,” said Lam Bing, a 82-year-old lady. Lam lives in a public housing estate in Mei Foo. On 13 Oct under typhoon signal number three, she went to Pei Ho, a charity restaurant in Sham Shui Po for a free meal. Chan Cheuk-Ming, founder of Pei Ho revealed most elderly use the voucher for healthcare purposes, making the budget for daily expenses tight. Oxfam suggests that …
Hang Seng Index sinks to decade low as Fed hikes rate
- 2022-09-22
- Business
- The Young Reporter
- By: Rex CheukEdited by: Kylie Wong
- 2022-09-22
Hong Kong stocks tumbled after the Federal Reserve’s 75 basis points rate hike. Ongoing rate hikes by the U.S central bank alongside concerns about a global economic slowdown has been posing pressure to global markets. The Hang Seng index slumped by 1.61% to 18,147.95, from this morning's 18,080.93. The index dropped to 17,965 points during the trading day, reaching a historic low since 2011. Bank stocks contracted in general. HSBC plunged more than 3% while Hang Seng and Standard Chartered dipped more than 1%. Real estate stocks closed in red, with New World Development recording a more than 3% slip. “It’s not time to buy yet as Hong Kong’s stock gauges fall to new lows, with aggressive US interest-rate hikes adding to pessimism around Covid Zero and the ongoing property crisis in China,” Manish Bhargava, fund manager at Singapore’s Straits Investment Holdings told the Standard. Following the Fed’s third consecutive hike, both HSBC and Bank of China raised their prime rate by 12.5 percentage points to 5.125%. Standard Chartered also upped interest rate to 5.375% from its previous 5.25%. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the de facto central bank of the city, also announced an upwards 3.5% Base Rate adjustment. The three major U.S stock indexes slid by around 1.7% after the hike. Most Asian markets sank, with Japan’s Nikkei Index dropping 0.58%. “We have got to get inflation behind us,” Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said at a news conference on Wednesday. “I wish there were a painless way to do that; there isn’t.” The several rounds of raised interest rates have led to the devaluation of at least one-tenth of the world's 36 currencies. “The Fed has raised interest rates sharply for many rounds, and the U.S. dollar has appreciated rapidly…” Zhao Lijian, the spokesman of the Chinese …
New iPhone 14 goes on sale in Hong Kong
- 2022-09-16
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Yixin GaoEdited by: REN Ziyi David
- 2022-09-16
The new iPhone 14 series went on sale in Hong Kong today. Potential customers pack into Apple Stores around the city to check out the new functions on the device. Lucy Lang, 21, who owns an iPhone 13 was at the Festival Walk store this afternoon. She liked the iPhone 14 pro in purple and would buy one when she has enough money. “The photographic functions and the appearance of the phone are all I care about, and the iPhone 14 pro can satisfy me well,” Lang said. One of the new functions on the iPhone 14 pro is the “Dynamic Island”. It is an interactive display on the top of the screen where the notch used to be in previous models. The status bar shows information such as currently playing music, and call notification, estimated arrival of rides without disrupting users’ activities on the main screen. Harry Han has been following the development of iPhones for years. He said the “Dynamic Island” was brilliant but unnecessary. “I don’t intend to buy it right now, My iPhone 12 is enough for me,” he said. Three days before the pre-sale of the iPhone 14 series, Huawei, one of the most popular Chinese smartphone manufacturers, launched the pre-sale of the Mate 50 series. But the new model. does not support 5G functions. Enkito Chen, 20, a Huawei user, said that she liked the Airdrop function of iPhone products but it was not sufficient for her to choose iPhone because its signal is quite weak. In Hong Kong, the cheapest device in the iPhone 14 series was HK$6899. Apple raised the price of the new series in key markets such as the UK, Japan, and Germany versus the iPhone 13, while it remained the same in the local market and in China. CC …
Heng Seng Indexes pressured by the mainland cities’ lockdown as European markets remains stable after French election on sunday
- 2022-04-11
- Business
- The Young Reporter
- By: Peggy Ye Pei ShinEdited by: REN Ziyi David
- 2022-04-11
The Hong Kong stock plummeted 663.71 points, or 3.03% today from its previous close, falling to the lowest level in the past three weeks as concerns over the lockdown of Shanghai and other main cities in China under a new round of pandemic gloomed over the country’s economic growth. Heng Seng Indexes opened at 21,688 in the morning and hit the lowest point of 21,132 in the mid day. Among the worst performers of the index, Country Garden Services Holdings Company(06098) tumbled 9.10% to HK$ 36.45. Alibaba (09988) slipped 5.11% to HK$98.5 and Xiaomi Cooperation (01810) lost 6.36% to HK$ 12.36. Concerning the worsening pandemic outbreak in mainland cities, the forecast for economic performance in April is pessimistic. “Comparing the country’s March’s Purchasing Managers' Index with other months, the figure still falls in the relatively bad range,” said Steven Wong, the portfolio manager from the Harris Fraser group. The latest Caixin China Services Purchasing Managers' Index, announced a few days ago, fell to 42 in March from 50.2 in February. The 50-point mark separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis. Wong indicated that the main concern is how long will it take for those cities to handle the outbreak under the zero-covid policy that was insisted on by the government. The effect on the consumer and the manufacturing related sectors will be the first to suffer enormously during the city-wide lockdowns. Shanghai, China’s economic center with 23million people, entered a 2-week lockdown as the city’s daily COVID cases surged to 26,090 on April 10. Consumption and manufacturing suffered a lot from the country’s zero-covid policy. “ We will see much more impact on the mainland real estate sector gradually, since it is the main contributing factor of China’s GDP, the government might need to loosen its monetary policies in …
SF Intra-City’s shares plunge as the company lose more last year
- 2022-03-31
- Business
- The Young Reporter
- By: YANG ZhenfeiEdited by: WANG Jingyan 王婧言
- 2022-03-31
Share price of Hangzhou SF Intra-city company (9699.HK) slumped 5% to HK$ 7.03 today, after the company announced its net loss for 2021 expanded to 899 million yuan, as shown in the annual report released yesterday. The largest third-party on-demand delivery service provider in China saw a high open of HK$ 7.70 this morning , up 4.05% from the previous close, but the price went down afterwards to as low as HK$ 6.96. The company reported a net loss of 899 million yuan for the year 2021, versus 758 million yuan in 2020, it said in the result. The company achieved revenue of 8.174 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 68.77% and its gross profit and gross profit margin have recorded positive numbers for the first time, at 94.809 million yuan and 1.2% respectively, as of December 31, 2021. SF Intra-City was officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 14 last year. However, it sank on the first day and closed at HK$14.9 per share on the same day, down 9.26% from the offering price, with a total market value of HK$13.91 billion. In the past five years, the instant delivery industry has ushered in a period of rapid growth, and the overall size of orders in the industry was 27.9 billion last year, said the report from iresearch. SF Intra-City has become the largest third-party on-demand delivery service platform in China, with a steady market share of over 11%, capturing the emerging business opportunity of the instant delivery service according to its press release yesterday. Zeng Hailin, CFO of the company, said in today’s phone conference that he is confident that the company's gross profit margin will continue to improve and the expense ratio will further decline, and will strive to achieve breakeven as soon as …
Virus or Starvation: Hong Kong Suffers Under Worst Pandemic Wave
- 2022-03-28
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: REN Ziyi DavidEdited by: Editor
- 2022-03-28
Empty stores try to tempt customers with 20% discounts. Many more are closed, their shutters covered in thick dust. The previously bustling streets only see a handful of pedestrians, many of whom have sealed themselves off with surgical masks and even goggles. This was an early day in March in Hong Kong, in the third Covid-19. Hong Kong is suffering from the worst wave of pandemic with more than a million reported cases. Despite being one of the world's wealthiest cities, the Covid-19 fatality rate exceeds 0.5%, marking the highest death rate in the world right now. The city has shuttered bars, closed down late-night dining and schools, leaving hundreds of thousands without a job and little in terms of a safety net. According to Sze Lai-shan, deputy director of the Society for Community Organization, the situation is dire. "As most people can get vaccinated, the chances of dying from Covid are low, but starving to death is higher now," said Sze, whose group helps 40,000 people a day. Hong Kong's unemployment is surging amid the semi-lockdown, reaching 4.5% in February, the highest since September 2021. The government is trying to stem the disaster in the city, with Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po recently announcing a sixth round of the Anti-pandemic Fund of HK$27 billion to subsidize affected employers and individuals. Some HK$3billion is reserved for unemployment support. Eligible applicants must be unemployed for 30 consecutive days to get one-off HK$10,000 subsidies. Lam said to expand unemployment subsidy on Friday to benefit up to 1.3 million workers, covering three-quarters of workers earning HK$30,000 per month. Ronald Kong, 50, was recently temporarily laid off from his job at a barber shop, and had to make ends meet by giving haircuts in his apartment. While he's back at work now, he's deeply …
Jinmao Property Services shares slump in Hong Kong trading debut
- 2022-03-10
- Business
- The Young Reporter
- By: REN Ziyi DavidEdited by: Peggy Ye Pei Shin
- 2022-03-10
Shares of Jinmao Property Services Co.(00816), a Chinese property management company, plunged as much as 36% to HK$5.21 on its first trading day, as China's real estate markets remained under pressure. The company’s shares closed at HK$5.8 today, dropping 29% from its initial public price of HK$ 8.14. Jinmao Service was offering 101 million shares at a price ranging from HK$7.52 to HK$ 8.14, with a goal to raise up to HK$ 759.6 million. The share price was down as much as 6.1% to HK$7.6 in Gray Market trading on Wednesday, data compiled by Bloomberg Terminal shows. "The property services industry follows the trend of the housing market," said Steven Wong, the Portfolio Manager of Harris Fraser, "property services could be overvalued if property sales are weak." China's property market faces a great setback under Beijing's regulation as real estate companies have difficulties in paying debt, such as the default of property tycoon China Evergrande. Jinmao’s business scale is relatively small compared to other leading companies. Its managed area exceeds 23 million square metres in mainland China, including 20 provinces and 35 cities by September 2021, while Country Garden Services (06098) provides ten times more services, covering 644 million square metres by June 2021. Jinmao Property Services’ net profit increased from RMB 23 million yuan in 2019 to RMB 77 million yuan in 2020, while the net profit ratio was 8.2%, below that of Country Garden Services (06098), which is 17.2%. Meanwhile, the company's average management fee was RMB5.4 per square metres per month, higher than the average listing peer RMB3.8 yuan, according to a research report finished in 2022. Country Garden Services slipped 4.3% to HK$38.6 per share today. China Jinmao Holdings Group(00817), the parent company of Jinmao Property Services, which relies on real estate and hotel operations, recorded …
Café de Coral shares slightly rebound from post-2008 financial crisis record low as the group stopping dine-in services due to pandemic
- 2022-03-01
- Business
- The Young Reporter
- By: YANG ZhenfeiEdited by: WANG Jingyan 王婧言
- 2022-03-01
The share price of Café de Coral(00341), a Hong Kong fast-food chain, rebounded 2.17% compared to HK$ 11.98 yesterday as the company announced to stop dine-in services in most outlets. However, its shares still decreased nearly six percent in the past five trading days. Café de Coral and its congee restaurant Super Super Congee and Noodles suspended dine-in services and focused on takeaway from March 1, announced the Café de Coral Group on Feb 27. The Group would also adjust the business hours and modes of some casual dining branches. Leung Ke-ting, CEO of Café de Coral Group (Hong Kong), has publicly stated that the suspension on dine-in can reduce crowds in the store, protect the health of customers and employees, and reduce the pressure on employees to go to work. The group’s share fell as much as to HK$ 11.86 today, the lowest since the financial crisis in 2008. Restaurants in Hong Kong struggled to survive as the fifth wave of epidemic hit the city. It is estimated that there may be 5,000 restaurants that suspend business if the regulations are further tightened, said the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurant and Related Trades, reported by local media. LH Group Limited (01978) has suspended the operation of all its restaurants including Gyu-Kaku, Gyu-Kaku Jinan-Bou, On-Yasai, Mou Mou Club, etc. since yesterday. Its shares continued to drop today to HK$0.85, 1.16% lower than the previous close, after it plunged more than 11% to HK$0.82 yesterday morning. Tao Heung Holdings Limited (00573), a chain of Chinese restaurants, announced yesterday that it will be temporarily closed from today until the epidemic eases on Facebook. Its share price decreased 1.19% to a one-year low of HK$ 0.83 today. The government has expanded tightening social distancing rules to at least April 20. It ordered hair …
Budget 2022: Hong Kong budget aims to tighten financial and economic ties with mainland China
- 2022-02-24
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Ziyu Bruce Zhao、Kate ZhangEdited by: Summer Li
- 2022-02-24
Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po addressed the HK$170 billion budget for the city in today's speech, with considerable mentions on integrating Hong Kong’s economy into the mainland China market and national-level development. Strengthening Hong Kong as a financial centre to integrate with mainland development Hong Kong will enhance its status as an international financial centre in line with the 14th Five‑Year Plan by strengthening its status as an offshore renminbi hub and asset management centre, the Financial Secretary said in his budget speech today. “In the future, we will explore ways to further expand the channels for the two-way flow of cross- boundary RMB funds, as well as continue to promote the development of offshore RMB products, including introducing more diversified RMB wealth management products and bonds,” Financial Secretary, Paul Chan said . The city launched the Southbound Trading of Bond Connect and the Cross‑boundary Wealth Management Connect Scheme in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) in September last year, which allows individual investors in the mainland to invest in offshore bonds through the Hong Kong bond market according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Chan said the government is exploring more enhancement measures for these investment initiatives, including expanding quotas and scope of eligible investment products, inviting more companies to participate, and improving distribution. The Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited will study and implement a pilot plan for infrastructure financing securitization within the year. According to the plan, the corporation is expected to issue infrastructure financing securitization products worth about HK$ 35.1 trillion (US$450 million) in the institutional market next year. “On the one hand, the local infrastructure financing market will be more vigorous and diversified, and at the same time, market capital will be introduced into high-quality infrastructure projects,” Chan said. Chan also proposed to set up …