299: Chapter 299: Carven’s Maneuver (Third Release, Please Favorite, Subscribe, and Vote for Monthly Tickets) 299: Chapter 299: Carven’s Maneuver (Third Release, Please Favorite, Subscribe, and Vote for Monthly Tickets) “Currently, our raw material costs account for about 30% of the sales price, machinery depreciation for 20%, and managent fees, property depreciation, and transportation expenses for roughly 15%.
Labor costs are only at 5%.”
Kyle stood in front of the television, passionately explaining to Carven, who was sitting on the sofa, “What does 5% represent?
Our competitors, their figure is approximately 25%.
We save a full 20%!
And this 20% will all be converted into our net profit.
In factories similar to our operations, they make a profit of 10% per item sold, whereas we make 30%!
Our profit is three tis theirs!
Mr.
Carven, I believe this should be the reason Nord Bank would invest in us.”
“Indeed, it’s a good project,”
Carven replied with a gentle smile, resembling a kind elderly man, while flipping through the report in his hand,
“But Mr.
Kyle, your reports indicate that your factory in Dawn City has been bringing in about 1,300 new Wilderness Wanderer workers through various ans each year, yet the total number of your workers grows very slowly, averaging to only about an increase of 100 workers per year over the past few years.
Does this an that nearly 1,200 Wilderness Wanderers ‘wear out’ every year?”
“Mr.
Carven,” Kyle hastily defended, “But the influx of new Wilderness Wanderers into the city is increasing.
Recently, due to the A-level exotic beast migration, many Wilderness Wanderers have been pouring into various cities around us, and it is foreseeable that our number of workers will continue to grow,”
“Of course, it can now,” Carven said with a smile, passing the coffee in front of him to Kyle,
“Mr.
Kyle, don’t rush, have so coffee.”
Then he continued, “What about later?
The turbulence caused by the A-level exotic beast migration has been going on for almost a decade now, even earlier events arrived more than a decade ago.
You’ve been making money for nearly ten years.
As the A-level exotic beasts move away, eventually, order will be restored in the surrounding cities.
Once a new order is established, will there still be so many Wilderness Wanderers entering the city?”
“We could also open branches in other cities along the route of the A-level exotic beast migration.
This business can continue to be profitable.”
Kyle argued.
“The migration of the A-level exotic beasts has an endpoint, and the migration at this end is about to conclude,” Carven said with a chuckle, and then, watching Kyle who wanted to speak again, continued,
“Even if we assu that the migration of A-level exotic beasts is ongoing, Mr.
Kyle, you currently have about 6,000 Wilderness Wanderer employees.
If we calculate based on an attrition rate of about 900 per year, it ans the functional lifespan of these Wilderness Wanderers is roughly five years.
Mr.
Kyle, humans are not chickens, pigs, or cows that can be bred and ready for slaughter in a few months or a year or two.
To et the workload you require, a person must be at least fifteen years old to work.
This maturation cycle is long, and once you’ve exhausted all of the Wilderness Wanderers, no new Wilderness Wanderers will be born.
So in a sense, could I consider that you are exploiting a non-renewable resource?”
“I…”
Kyle opened his mouth but this ti couldn’t produce a rebuttal.
“Dawn City is the largest city around, with a siphoning effect on Wilderness Wanderers who can’t survive in the wilderness, so the number of Wilderness Wanderers who arrive is far higher than in other cities,”
Kyle, putting down his report, continued, “This ans that in reality, a lot of the Wilderness Wanderers you absorb are those who were ant to go to other cities but were drawn to the prosperity of Dawn City, people who don’t belong to Dawn City.
Therefore, you won’t be able to attract as many people in other cities, unable to replicate the success of Dawn City.
Furthermore, if this is a non-renewable resource, then naturally there cos a day when it is depleted.
Around Dawn City, including the nearby reachable area, there are only a hundred thousand or so Wilderness Wanderers.
Of those, several tens of thousands are unaffected by the migration and unwilling to enter the city, and several tens of thousands can settle down or directly die in the wilderness, never coming to the city.
In the end, there are only several tens of thousands that might enter the city.
I saw in your report that you want to expand production in Dawn City?
Then your consumption rate would continue to increase.
How long could these several tens of thousands last you?
Ten years?”
Based on your projected production costs, our investnt would take about five years to break even, and in ten years, that’s just making double the money, with a 100% return over ten years, an average annual return of 10%.
Do you think that return is high?”
“Mr.
Kyle, this is still the ideal scenario we’ve calculated.”
Kyle felt a trace of cold sweat on his forehead as he realized he had been completely drawn into the other party’s rhythm, yet he didn’t know how to counter.
The opponent had already proven that expanding to other cities wouldn’t work, expanding in Dawn City wouldn’t work, even directly suggesting that his project had no future.
This was the very reason he was reluctant to seek financing from others; these people were too cunning and too shrewd.
He couldn’t outplay them, he’d rather take high-interest loans from banks.
If he wasn’t completely unable to borrow more money, he wouldn’t have considered turning to Nord’s group of ruthless and rapacious financiers.
“If it really won’t do, we can talk about the price again, I can sell my shares for cheaper.”
Kyle wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
“It’s actually not about the price,” Carven said slowly, watching Kyle’s increasingly anxious expression, “We can actually offer a higher price.”
“Hmm?”
Kyle was startled, thinking this negotiation had fallen through.
“Mr.
Kyle, as you say, your company’s operating condition is very good, and the performance report is quite attractive, far exceeding other similar companies,”
Carven said softly.
“What of it, it’s nothing to show off about.”
Kyle frowned.
“Not necessarily,”
Carven took a sip of his coffee and said kindly, “Nord could package your plant for a public offering, allowing you to attract funding from the stock market.
With your impressive financial statents, the stock price would rise quickly, then you’d have money to continue expanding.”
“But our project isn’t…”
Kyle was sowhat puzzled.
“Your project won’t last long, but it doesn’t stop you from making money,” Carven said with a smile.
“You could gradually sell off so shares at a high point and then release so bad news to let the stock price fall, then buy them back.
Repeat the process a few tis, and you’ll have plenty of money.
When the company really can’t continue to operate, you report so false news, push the stock price up, clear out your shares, and find a few short-sellers to expose your company’s problems.
As the stock price crashes, you make another fortune, and by then, you’ve taken the money and left.”
“But doing that, wouldn’t many of the people who bought our stocks go bankrupt and jump off buildings?”
Kyle was stunned; he felt he had seen this tactic before.
His parents had lost all their money in the stock market and subsequently committed suicide by jumping off a building, leaving him to beco a wandering orphan.
“You’ve made money, what does it matter to you whether they live or die?”
Carven said, sipping his coffee with a smile.
It was at that mont that the lights in the conference room suddenly went out.
The wooden conference room door was slowly pushed open.
Reviews
All reviews (0)