Computer & Technologies (0046)

[port]

li ka shing has a 11% stake

http://www.ctil.com

-dividend yield of 7%,
-net margin of 22%, debt free.
-ROE>10%. P/B: 1.30
-increasing dividend over past 5 yrs.
-12-13cts dividend likely sustainable due to cash pile.

net cash + investment properties make up a substantial % of mkt cap of 520m.

[dzwm87]

Interesting. David Webb just hit past a 5% stake - tend to be a stamp of good corporate governance and consistent cash flow.

[Drizzt]

wow you guys looked into this. from what i see it looks a good 6% yield.

sharing some of my data

[Image: 1SRm8YY.png]

in 2011 they made a conscious move to move away from hardware and focus heavily on applications. Hence the change in margins.

in 2001 they seem to be more of a different kind of business. They have change their composition a few times. you realize its a very small company.

one thing i don't understand is that majority of these IT business in hong kong seem to be tide to their country procurement system

[dzwm87]

I haven't look into their business model but did see them mention about some government contracts stuff. It might be worth exploring deeper. If these are bulk IT system applications which pose a huge switching cost, then C&T could enjoy some stickiness in their revenue.

Are they catering to some niche market or are they doing the general IT solution like ERP, SAP, etc?

[Drizzt]

my sensing (couldn't tell well sorry) is that they system integrate solutions so that businesses (say logistics player) can interface with this trade system used by the government in Hong Kong.

it is interesting because we know IBM is facing slowdown in china and how much this affects them.

and yes you are right, perhaps we need to sense the switching cost.

[port]

a close competitor will be tradelink sehk 536 http://www.tradelink.com.hk/eng/index.html & its subsidiary DTTN

notice DTTN offers a similar trade platform with SG tradexchange https://www.tradexchange.gov.sg/tradexch...ult.portal

[dzwm87]

My discomfort with IT solution services is that the business is too broad and unless you know the technicality of this business, it's very hard to pick out the selling point of each service provider. Briefly looking through the different services provided by C&T and Tradelink, they are both service provider but have very little overlap on their services. C&T tends to provide more general solution relating to HR and resource planning while Tradelink deals with more niche areas like customs and also a little on resource planning.

I like how they are transparent with their contract wins posted on their website albeit unlikely to be an exhaustive list. From the looks of it, financials and government sectors form the bulk of their customer base and contract should not last more than a year? Unfortunately, I can't find any insight regarding their recurring service income.

In terms of track record, C&T had been listed since 1998 and the founder, Mr Ng Cheung Shing, has been on the board managing the business. I am sure for the past 15 years, IT had been very dynamic so we can infer a little on mgmt's capability to steer clear from being obsolete. The only issue is you can't guarantee they can continue to do so in the future.

Their cash flow metrics is very impressive. Barring poor capital allocation, there is much comfort knowing that they are able to sustain their dividends for the next 3 years. CAPEX is very minimal since the bulk working capital of this business is human capital. The business essentially needs no external working capital and has been funding itself for the past 6 years. My calculated payable turnover days are around 270 for FY2012. Are they selling their proprietary software or are they simply selling other vendors' products?

To sum everything, this is definitely a dividend play with a decent 6 to 7% yield but I am quite uncomfortable not knowing their product well.

[opmi]

ED just bot 500k shares.

[port]

Briefly looking through the different services provided by C&T and Tradelink, they are both service provider but have very little overlap on their services.

Ge-TS of C&T competes directly with DTTN of tradelink in the area of trade declaration, paper to electronic conversion of trade documents, etc
http://cloud.ge-ts.com.hk/en/government-services
http://www.hk-dttn.com/services/english/...roach.html

Few yrs ago, I was vested in tradelink and C&T as they both offer trade platforms which offer similar services comparable to govt of SG tradexchange(https://www.tradexchange.gov.sg/tradexch...ult.portal)

[port]

吴长胜——软件大王

说到香港的创意产业，我们还不得不提到一个IT公司，依靠先进的计算机技术搞技术创新是这家公司的拿手好戏。而且，这家公司对市场商机的把握，也许能让您对创意这个词有一些新的认识。



2007年，中国股市一次又一次吸引着全世界的关注。上证指数从年初的2800点开始，一直冲破4000点，深沪两市单日的成交量动辄也突破3000亿。正当中国证券市场一片火热时，而上海证券交易所的交易大厅不像很多人想象中的那样人潮涌动。负责沪市A股交易业务的上证所副总经理谢玮告诉记者，早在1990年上海证交所成立的时候，曾在上海财经大学工作的谢玮为上证所设计了第一套自动对盘系统。

上海证券交易所副总经理谢玮：“当时的设计容量和速度都很低。到了92年、93年的时候，原来的系统就不能适应这个市场的发展，所以我们就准备更新这样的系统。”

在那时，国内的系统集成业务刚刚兴起，要想找到一家技术先进，又富于创新精神的公司并不是一件容易的事情，而就在这个时候，一家香港公司进入了上海证交所的视线中。

科联系统集团有限公司主席兼行政总裁吴长胜：“我们知道有第二代的系统要做，开始我们就去找交易所。”

吴长胜，香港科联公司的创始人。早在英国读书的时候，吴长胜就开始接触电子计算机。在现在看来，那时的电子计算机还是个极其简单的电子装置，干不了什么太多的事情，但年轻的吴长胜却对电子计算机着了迷。

科联系统集团有限公司主席兼行政总裁吴长胜：“因为我自己比较喜欢这种跟计算机有关的东西，到大学也就读（计算机科学）这个科目，然后出来以后呢，比较有兴趣搞计算机这类的东西。”




大学毕业后，吴长胜曾经代表惠普公司开拓国内的计算机软件市场，希望让更多的人能够借助先进的计算机技术完成传统的工作。虽然当时的工作业绩并不理想，但吴长胜已经意识到，市场上充满了机遇。

科联系统集团有限公司主席兼行政总裁吴长胜：“中国正在改革开放，对计算机的应用有需求，但是外面的人不太愿意来，本身国内的企业没有太多的去投入，所以这时候我就下了一个决心，就自己跑出来，我认为，如果我自己出来做这个事情能够正好把中间这个需求给弥补掉。”

吴长胜告诉记者，当他知道上海证交所要开发新一代自动对盘系统的时候，已经意识到这对刚刚成立的科联公司来说，是个难得的机遇。于是，吴长胜找到了上证所，按照当时的市场行情，提出了100万美金的报价。

科联系统集团有限公司主席兼行政总裁吴长胜：“就是当时我还比较年轻嘛，那老总就，就挺好的，他笑笑对我说，他问我你公司有多少人，那我说大概有我20人左右吧，他说100万美金，我在中国可以找200个人做一整年的时间，你说我凭什么要相信你，20人的公司能够把这个事情做好。”

这句话触动了吴长胜，如何才能得到信任？于是他做出了一个大胆的决定，自己先投资做一个系统模型，这对当时刚刚成立的科联公司来说，风险可想而知。




科联系统集团有限公司主席兼行政总裁吴长胜：“那时候我们就花了2、3个月的时间，做了这么一个程序，就到交易所去测试，结果他测试以后，就发现比它现有的交易系统的要快上百倍，他开始才慢慢建立起这种信心。”

一晃15年过去了，虽然互联网时代的计算机技术已经发生了翻天覆地的变化，但是由香港科联公司协助开发的上海证交所第二代对盘系统，仍然保持着良好的运转。

上海证券交易所副总经理谢玮：“上两个星期，华尔街日报也发表了两篇文章，他们就对中国证券市场计算机系统感到很惊讶，就在这么大的交易量下面反应还这么快。”

不过，在中国证券市场获得的良好业绩并不能让吴长胜感到太多成功的喜悦。在与内地的业务往来中，又一个新的商业机遇被发现了。

科联系统集团有限公司主席兼行政总裁吴长胜：“我们也发觉到中国电讯已经开始慢慢意识到这个市场的需求，他们也愿意投入去改良他们现有的整个的网络基建，所以等于是我们从证券以后看到的第二个商机。”

凭借着对市场的敏锐判断，科联公司的业务从金融领域逐步拓展到电讯业、电子商务等越来越多的朝阳产业。1998年5月18日，科联集团在香港联合交易所挂牌交易，成为极少数能在主板上市的资讯科技服务公司。而此时，吴长胜又开始筹划着一次新的转变。1999年，科联集团为香港特区政府开发了全世界第一个政府电子投标系统。

科联系统集团有限公司主席兼行政总裁吴长胜：“这个就是我们为香港特区政府的政府物流服务署做的一个电子招投标的网站，那这个网站英文简称就是ＥＴＳ的系统，比方就有一个食物环境卫生署的一个标，那这个都是开放给一般市民他可以进来查询一般的招标内容。那如果说我们想要更详细的，比方说你要把整个标书下载或者是说要上载投标，那可以登记成为用户，那登记成为用户以后就可以完全享用整个系统的全部的功能。”

吴长胜告诉记者，作为一家上市公司，只有不断寻找能够产生稳定收益的项目才能获得生存，电子政务系统就是这样一种盈利模式的创新。

科联系统集团有限公司主席兼行政总裁吴长胜：“这种系统就是由我们去前期投资建设整个系统，然后通过我们每年向政府收取的运营费用，和向那个服务的使用者，比方说是一些政府的供货商他来使用的时候，按次或者按月来给我们一个费用，那以这种形式来运营的。”

虽然当年有人对这种公司前期投入较大的业务模式并不看好，但事实证明，正是这种业务模式的创新，为科联公司在香港乃至国际市场争取到更多的发展空间。2000年，科联集团被国际著名财经杂志《福布斯》评为世界三百家最佳中小型企业之一。吴长胜告诉记者，要想让做好一件事情，有创意的想法非常重要。