Author: stlplace

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China

English Training Companies in Shanghai

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Heard about this Kai’en English from a colleague, they offer spoken English, Youth English, Business English, test preparation, etc.

Why English training is so hot? According to the S1 prospectus of Xinhua Finance Media, page 108 (under Radio section), “the average wages of Chinese employees with advanced and intermediate levels of English are 72.5% and 24.3% higher than those with basic levels of English, respectively”. By the way, I listened its “Easy FM” here in Shanghai, and I think it’s a good source to learn English.

One year training cost at WallStreet English is CNY 15,000, my colleague joked it’s CNY 50 per day. It’s mostly spoken English. It’s not small amount for average workers in China.

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China Stocks

Xinhua Finance Media IPO Update

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(Update 07Mar07) I saw an updated F1 prospectus at SEC web site. So I would assume the IPO is still on?

Just heard from a friend in the States, this is not offical, but the rumor is the IPO is called off. I assume the reason is the recent sell off of Chinese stocks inside and outside China scared lots of potential foreign buyers.

IPO is a very interesting game for issuing companies, underwriters and buying institutions. Companies do the road show and get people excited. They also talked to underwriter to determine the issuing prices. The underwriters bought all these shares from companies at the issuing price and sell those shares to institutions (a.k.a, their buddies). They receive a fee from this transaction.

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Saint Louis

Home Inns Mindray New Oriental

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These days you need some faith to hold those relatively new Chinese IPOs. I only have Mindray (MR) at this time, but I have traded HMIN and EDU before. All three stocks dropped a lot from it highs in a week. I just want to summerize my observation after spending 2 days in Shanghai, this is in no ways a comprehensive study.

Home Inns: it faces more competition. I went to Jinjiang Inn on Sunday with a friend, we need to book a room for another friend. It’s fairly easy. Maybe this is not a busy season. But I remember one or two years ago it’s not easy to book a room one day in advance. Also Marriot (the American hotel giant) bought a Chinese economy hotel chain “Xingyu Star” and renamed it as “Wan Jia Wan Hao”. It plans to open 300 hotels in a few years.

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Fun

United Adventures

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I have taken United Arlines (UA) flights from St. Louis to Shanghai couple times. This one is probablly most adventurous. The main problem was caused by the weather in Chicago. I thought this newly created ORD to PVG routes by UA and AA would benifit people in the Midwest: save one stop, for instance, if we take Northwest, we will have to stop twice, at Detroit/Minneapolis and Tokyo. But on March 2nd Chicago got wind and light snow. The flight from STL to ORD got delayed for about 3 hours. When I looked at the TV screen after I got to Chicago at 10:30, I could not find the 10:15 ORD PVG flight. So I waited patiently in a “200 miles long” line at the United customer service. This “200 miles” is quoting a lady lined after me. I also called the United hot line on the phone, all I got was the computer response. I guess there were so many delays and cancellations, and UA don’t have enough people to take the calls.

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China Stocks

Shanghai Market is Still Hot

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This is from what I feel after spending 36 hours Shanghai. I read quite a few newspaper, magazine, and watch the “finance” section on the TV (first Caijing etc.), as part of research for Xinhua Finance Media IPO, stock market is a very hot topic in all those places. The scary part is, in one program this analyst promoted how easy it is to make money using options (as Quan Zheng in Chinese).

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China Stocks

Got to Shanghai

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I am in Shanghai now. The flight connection was not as smooth as I expected, finanlly I got here about 5 and a half hours late than original schedule. I got oppertunity to see the new Beijing airport on the way: very impressive infrustructure. I guess it’s ready for the big party in 2008. I will talk more about my thoughts and airline customer experience later.

I also read Buffett latest anual shareholder letter as I talked in my previous post. Very good stuff and fairly easy to read.

My second reading assignment is Xinhua Finance Media F1 prospectus. I agree with some of the analysts the valuation is a bit high at $12  to $14. It implies a market cap of $800 m and note its 2006 revenue is about $59 m. I don’t think media and advertising industry enjoy a high margin. The growth oppertunity is there, so is the competition and challenge…I flipped through the TV channel and was impressed by the “No.1 Caijing”, the competitor program of Xinhua’s Fortune China. I tried to search for Fortune China but was not successful.  

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Fun

Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 2006 Annual Letter

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Here is this year’s letter (in PDF). I read his letters a few years back. Recently I bought his book   (at right side bar, in blue), it’s essentially a collection of his annual shareholder letters. His letters are highly regarded in the investing community.

I hope one day I could go to his annual shareholder meeting in Omaha. It was said he will meet some international shareholders during the meeting, don’t know if I could qualify for the event. May be buying a B Share (BRK-B, about $3500 a piece) will do it? 

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China

Be in Shanghai for a While

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I will be in Shanghai this Saturday, and stay there for an extended period of time. I am going to do some bargain hunting, after the big drop in Shanghai stock market 🙂

Just kidding. Seriously, every time I visit China, I learn something new. This is not flattering. I hope this time I can learn more. If anyone who is interested in meeting a software guy with deep interest in stocks and business, we can talk in Chinese 中文 or English.

Be aware I may not update blog for 2 days due to travel.    

Categories
China Stocks

Xinhua Finance Media Limited XFML IPO

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I received an Email from my broker WR Hambrecht asking me if I am interested in Xinhua Finance IPO. I talked it a little in a previous post; now I feel it’s not another Maritz. Also after yesterday’s crash, I got a little warmed up on it. So I called them and indicated my interest. Don’t know if I will get some. We will see.

Here is their F1 prospectus. I think some of comparables include: FMCN, JRJC in China and Viacom, Reuters in the US. Just on the top of my head, will do my reading and report my finding later. By the way, Xinhua is a very well known name and brand in China.

xinhua finance pic

Categories
China Stocks

Let’s Blame China

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First, a little disclaimer, the title was inspired by my friend Zhong Siwei “Let’s think China” blog. I think this pretty well summerizes the “blaming game” after yesterday’s global market sell off. Whether it has credit or not, from CNBC to the Newspaper and Internet, all fingers pointing to one place, China. No wonder typically soft spoken Premier Wen Jiabao, firmly declared “financial market stability is the key….”. I think he really meant “it’s not our fault”. 

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