The moment Zhao Xinlan stood up, she captured the attention of everyone in the room.
In fact, it wasn’t just Li Yi who wanted to know the company’s financial status—everyone else did too.
Everyone knew the company had been making money lately, but exactly how much—only Zhao Xinlan, the CFO, knew.
Despite being watched by so many people, Zhao Xinlan didn’t seem the least bit nervous.
She cleared her throat and said in a clear, confident voice, “Boss, we’ve compiled the financial report for October. As of the end of October, the company has raised a total of 5.3 billion Hong Kong dollars. Combined with your personal funds and those of Vice President Huang, the company’s total capital has reached 8.7 billion Hong Kong dollars!”
“However, this does not include the assets from the real estate projects. Since the real estate division is funded by your and Vice President Huang’s personal capital—even though the company currently manages it on your behalf—its finances operate independently. I will present a separate report on that division’s financial status to you later.”
“Alright, let’s start with the situation at Starry Sky,” Li Yi said.
Zhao Xinlan nodded and continued, “Over the past three months, our company’s total investment profits exceeded HK$7.7 billion. During this period, our employee salaries totaled HK$1.75 million, insurance premiums amounted to HK$350,000, and utility and telephone expenses came to HK$20,000…”
Before she could finish, Li Yi interrupted again, “Manager Zhao, there’s no need for such a detailed report. Just tell me how much cash we have on hand and how much of it is available for use!”
Zhao Xinlan hurriedly replied, “Currently, our company has a total of 15.318 billion Hong Kong dollars in available funds!”
At those words, everyone in the conference room couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.
Wow, everyone knew the company had made a killing investing in gold recently, but they never expected the funds on the books to be this massive. Probably not even the British Hong Kong government has that much money!
But just then, Zhao Xinlan changed the subject and continued, “However, since most of the principal for our gold investments was borrowed from banks—amounting to approximately 7.15 billion Hong Kong dollars in principal and interest—and we need to set aside 16.5% for taxes, the funds we can actually access right now are only 6.82 billion Hong Kong dollars!”
No sooner had Zhao Xinlan finished speaking than the conference room erupted in enthusiastic applause once more.
Everyone understood that the 6.82 billion Hong Kong dollars Zhao Xinlan mentioned represented the company’s net profit over the past few months.
In other words, they had generated 6.8 billion in net profit in just three months.
More importantly, the majority of the principal for these investments had been borrowed by the company through various secured loans—this was nothing short of making a fortune out of thin air!
Of course, borrowing funds comes with costs, but compared to profits in the tens of billions, that interest was a drop in the bucket—hardly worth mentioning.
No one knew how to describe their feelings at that moment—this went far beyond simply making money; even a robbery couldn’t have been this fast.
After the applause died down, the company’s legal department and administrative office each delivered detailed reports on their respective operations.
Once all department heads had finished their reports, Li Yi cleared his throat and said, “It’s clear that everyone has done an excellent job recently. The company’s profits have exceeded expectations. Thank you all for your hard work.”
“To thank everyone for their hard work during this period, in addition to the real estate project, all employees will receive three months’ salary as a bonus this month. All department heads will receive a bonus of 200,000 yuan each, and deputy heads 150,000 yuan. The finance department should implement this as soon as possible…”
“Clap, clap, clap!!!”
The conference room erupted in another round of enthusiastic applause!
Although everyone knew that Li Yi, their boss, wasn’t a stingy person, and that with the company’s profits being so high this time, he was bound to show his appreciation.
But no one expected Banbanhaobang to be so generous—ordinary employees were given four months’ salary outright, while managers’ bonuses were raised to 200,000 yuan, dozens of times their regular pay.
Admittedly, this was a drop in the bucket compared to the billions in profits they had generated.
But they were well aware that these profits didn’t all belong to the company—most of it went to the investors.
Besides, the main reason the project succeeded was that the plan devised by their big boss, Li Yi, was flawless. While they had contributed, their role wasn’t as significant as they might have imagined.
They were already quite satisfied that the boss was willing to set aside so much money for bonuses.
The continuous applause echoing from the office drew frequent glances from the employees outside, who couldn’t help but cast curious looks in their direction.
As the applause died down, Li Yi spoke again: “Our achievements deserve recognition, but we can’t let our guard down just yet. The end of the year is fast approaching, and we need to make some arrangements for the work ahead!”
Upon hearing this, everyone in the conference room turned their gaze toward Li Yi.
“Manager Lan, your Investment Management Department needs to come up with a new investment proposal as soon as possible and submit it to me for review!”
“Yes, sir!” Lan Xinyi replied immediately.
“The Administration Department has two tasks ahead. First, you must urge the Real Estate Project Department to complete the project near the Hong Kong-British Government building as soon as possible, then find a suitable company to handle the renovations. We need to move into the new headquarters as soon as possible—this location is no longer suitable for our company!”
Li Yi continued, “Second, step up your recruitment efforts. The company has major plans for next year, and our current staff is nowhere near enough. You need to hire at least 200 more people!”
“Yes, sir!”
“The Finance Department also has two tasks. First, convert all funds in the company’s accounts into US dollars and deposit them into the designated bank. I’ll discuss the specifics with you privately later!”
Li Yi then added, “The second task is to refine the financial statements we just reviewed. In a few days, we’ll hold a press conference to announce our company’s financial results!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Ding Can, your office needs to immediately draft a plan for the press conference. Schedule it for next Tuesday or later, and make sure to invite every media outlet we can get our hands on!”
“Yes!”
Upon hearing that Li Yi was going to hold a press conference to announce the company’s financial data, everyone was as excited as if they’d been injected with adrenaline.
Lately, those unscrupulous media outlets on the island had been running wild, smearing Li Yi while he was away.
Since they hadn’t received orders from Li Yi, Lan Xinyi and the others had no choice but to swallow their anger and exercise restraint. Even though their investments had been extremely profitable, in the eyes of those scumbag media outlets, Starry Sky Corporation was nothing—a fact that left them all feeling incredibly frustrated.
Now that the boss was finally striking back, everyone was thrilled, eagerly anticipating the satisfying moment when those critics would be thoroughly humiliated!
After going over these matters, Li Yi immediately adjourned the meeting, but kept Zhao Xinlan behind.
Li Yi first inquired about the status of the real estate project. Upon learning that the project, originally valued at 1 billion yuan, had now shrunk to less than 600 million yuan, Li Yi couldn’t help but feel a sense of helplessness.
A stock market crash had completely shattered confidence in Hong Kong’s real estate industry. In less than four months, property prices had plummeted by over 50%, and the total market value had shrunk by more than 60%.
More importantly, Li Yi knew this was not the final bottom; barring any surprises, such a plunge would likely continue for nearly another year.
Only after China and the UK reached an agreement on the issue of sovereignty, and the public gained sufficient confidence in the security situation here, would the local real estate market have a chance to rebound.
So for now, real estate projects could only continue to pour money into them slowly; there was no point in thinking about making a profit.
After getting a grasp of the basic situation regarding the real estate project, Li Yi immediately asked Zhao Xinlan about the specific regulations governing the movement of large sums of money in and out of Hong Kong Island.
After familiarizing himself with the relevant laws and regulations, he immediately called Li Futiao and then headed straight for the Li family estate…
……….