Boustead Singapore

[yeokiwi]

"If I give them too much, I deprive them of the meaning of life; they need the challenges."

haha... I like it. Leaving a fortune to your descendents is doing them a disfavour.
They should be out fighting for their dreams.

[mrEngineer]

I had some concerns after what that statement. Isn't it conflicting that his descendents are working for him now as well? Made me rethink whether was he just paying lip service to media and question about his integrity..

[kazukirai]

I had some concerns after what that statement. Isn't it conflicting that his descendents are working for him now as well? Made me rethink whether was he just paying lip service to media and question about his integrity..

I'm not sure that it's the same thing.

As they say, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

What Wong senior probably means is that he won't leave his monies to his children so that they'd be able to live comfortably without overcoming the kind of trials to earn that kind of money.

By letting his children work in the company, Wong senior is acting as a mentor to his children and in a sense, teaching them to fish rather than giving them fish. After all, if his children makes mistakes or is incompetent and yet continues to be promoted over anyone else, it will reflect badly on the man and his company will suffer.

And as with anything in life, everyone needs a mentor in order to learn a craft. Someone who is able to point out and correct mistakes, teach them the right principles and the inner-workings of the industry. There are few people who learn better by themselves because as George Santayana said, "those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

Personally, I know of friends who are worked even harder by their families when they join the business as compared to employees. Some of my friends rather seek work elsewhere as they know that the pressure of joining the family business is much worse.

[Musicwhiz]

I agree with Kazukirai - most Chairman/CEO parents will let their children hold jobs in the companies which they set up, and people will then have the mindset that this is a "family business", rather than a professionally-run organization which hires and retains based on talent, and not blood relations.

This would depend very much on the corporate culture and how the Chairman views talent from within and without. If he shows favouritism towards his relations, then the other employees will feel resentment and the tasks won't get done or there will be high turnover. If it is indeed a meritocratic-system, then anyone who performs well (regardless of whether he is related to the Chairman/CEO) will be amply rewarded.

For Boustead's case, it was mentioned that some of the employees were richly rewarded (through variable bonuses) for hitting targets in their respective business units. This does imply more of a meritocratic system rather than one which is centred around favouritism.

I can't say the same for other "family businesses" which are listed on SGX; as I do not understand their compensation system well enough.

[Musicwhiz]

From the recent interview with The Edge published in Sep 2010, it is still somewhat unclear what FF Wong plans for Boustead, even though he did mention he wanted the Group to be a pan-Asian company (no longer an "MNC" per se). By having a huge cash hoard at his disposal and ready to be deployed, I am sure he is actively scouting for juice opportunities to diversify Boustead's current sporadic income stream and to ensure revenues are less "lumpy" in nature. This will take time, and we should give the man time to execute his strategy to grow the Company.

ESRI is currently the cash cow doing their geo-spatial solutions for corporations. Boustead Projects and Infrastructures is also generating good revenue (though cash collection from Libya may be a problem) moving forward; and free cash flow should continue to be generated.

As for future plans, I am sure the upcoming 1H FY 2011 announcement will address this, and I am also wondering if Boustead is still tagged on to their strategy of garnering land banks in China and Vietnam with which they will develop properties for rental. This will enable a steady income to be secured but the upfront capital commitment will be high, no doubt.

[edragon]

I hope the land and projects to be in Singapore as the population is still growing so more upside.

[Musicwhiz]

I hope the land and projects to be in Singapore as the population is still growing so more upside.

91.7% owned Boustead Projects specializes in mainly design and build projects involving high-tech buildings and installations; as well as energy-saving and "green" features. Most of these are in Singapore, if you noticed.

For the land banks I'm talking about, China and Vietnam has a lot of these, but currently the potential yield is unknown and I would say both countries are also booming in their own way. It may not be population growth per se like in Singapore, but in Vietnam the Middle Class is growing and in China, the city-dwellers are becoming more affluent. This can also be readily seen in the retail and F&B industry for both countries.

[Jon-san]

but methinks, unless their landbank purchases in china and vietnam have real commercially strategic advantages, there's no point in joining the mass of developers rushing in to gobble up land... it's the one thing these 2 countries have in plenty of, other than manpower. many white elephants abound, i hope boustead doesn't end up owning one of them, though tbh, i'm not quite familiar with where these land purchases are.

[Musicwhiz]

but methinks, unless their landbank purchases in china and vietnam have real commercially strategic advantages, there's no point in joining the mass of developers rushing in to gobble up land... it's the one thing these 2 countries have in plenty of, other than manpower. many white elephants abound, i hope boustead doesn't end up owning one of them, though tbh, i'm not quite familiar with where these land purchases are.

I would think that with FF Wong's conservative nature, you'd bet he will look out for a lot of factors first to justify a purchase. They had indicated this intention some time back but have yet to conclude any purchase - I would think it's because of the points you brought up. So I will not be too worried unless they do something really obviously dumb.

[Musicwhiz]

Just for info - Boustead should be releasing its 1H FY 2011 financial results at or around November 9, 2010 (Tuesday).