Lex專欄 業績受阻對萬科的啓示

Takeover battles are bad for your health. On Sunday China Vanke, the Hong Kong and Shenzhen-listed property developer in the throes of a tussle for control, delivered first-half results. While profits after tax eked out a rise of one-tenth, this missed market forecasts as margins lost three percentage points (although management said second-half margins should rebound). Growth prospects, however, have been hurt — yet the disruption may ultimately prove good for minority shareholders.

收購戰對健康有害。上週日，萬科(China Vanke)發佈了上半年業績，這家在香港和深圳上市的房地產開發商正陷入控制權爭奪戰。雖然2016年上半年萬科的淨利潤勉強實現10%的增長，但遜於市場預期，主營業務利潤率下降了3個百分點（不過管理層表示下半年利潤率將會回升）。然而，增長前景已受到損害，不過這場動盪可能最終證明有利於少數股股東。

Late last year, a group backed by insurer Baoneng became Vanke’s largest shareholder. It owns a quarter of the company, ahead of state-owned enterprise China Resources Holding. Vanke called Baoneng “unwelcome” and has since been involved in an increasingly complex and protracted war, including proposing a deal with Shenzhen Metro Corp to issue a large block of new shares in return for assets.

去年年底，保險企業寶能(Baoneng)支持的一個集團成了萬科第一大股東。該集團持有萬科四分之一的股份，超過了國企華潤集團(China Resources Holdings)。萬科稱寶能“不受歡迎”，自此雙方陷入了一場日益複雜的持久戰，包括萬科提出與深圳地鐵集團(Shenzhen Metro)進行交易，發行大量新股收購後者資產。

As a consequence of this unusually public fight, Vanke’s commercial relationships have suffered. In the first half, the company had to alter terms for, or terminate, 31 co-operative projects between June and August alone. (It completed 70 projects.) The management-services unit has been similarly affected with the hit to the brand and quality perception. On the bright side, Vanke’s finances are sound. Over the half, net debt fell a quarter and is at about 20 per cent of equity. Financing costs, including capitalised interest, are nearly five times covered by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

結果，這種不尋常的公開鬥爭導致萬科的商業關係受損。僅6月底至8月初，該公司就不得不爲31個項目變更條款或終止合作。（該公司上半年獲取新項目70個。）與企業品牌和質量認知受到的打擊一樣，管理服務部門同樣受到影響。從光明面來看，萬科的財務狀況是健康的。上半年淨債務下降了四分之一，淨債務資本率爲14.18%。息稅折舊及攤銷前利潤(EBITDA)對包括資本化利息在內的融資成本的利息保障倍數接近5倍。

So the company is not operationally threatened in the short term. And, despite its previous antipathy to Baoneng, Vanke has become less confrontational, stressing instead a focus on returns and the long-term stability of the company. A poor half may have been just the shock treatment needed for Vanke to remember that it must act in all shareholders’ best interests and not just those of a few.

因此萬科的運營在短期內不存在威脅。而且，儘管此前對寶能反感，現在萬科已變得不那麼對抗，而是強調專注於公司的回報和長期穩定。糟糕的上半年可能正是萬科需要的休克療法，讓其記住必須根據所有股東、而不是少部分股東的最佳利益行事。