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carried out by the South East Asia Research Source show that the company will not begin to show a positive cash flow until 1986.
6.
In the circumstances, Mr Bedford's resignation was not unexpected in Hong Kong. Mr Davies is flying to the territory on 1 October. Until his arrival, Mr Nigel Rich is acting as chief operating officer of the company.
Вир
29 September 1983
Mr DQuRa AJ12/10
Donald
Mr Clift
R D Clift
Hong Kong Department
1. Thank you.
Mr Davies was under no illusions as to the diffi- culty of his task. He told me of the bad half year results, and of Mr Newbigging's resignation, which was reported in the following morning's press. He said that Hong Kong Land had a very serious cash flow problem, which he would give himself about six months to sort out. The fact was that for reasons which went back beyond the Peking negotiations over the future of Hong Kong, the property market in Hong Kong had entered a very delicate phase, which could be compared perhaps to the period in 1976 when we experienced failures of secondary banks and property companies in this country. I made the points in the brief, except for that in the last sentence, which I omitted simply in order to avoid any further depressing discussion. I could only try to show the keenest understanding and assure Mr Davies of HMG's concern for the situation in Hong Kong and confidence in its role. Mr Davies did not press me about the Peking talks, but he had dined the previous evening with Lord Maclehose and Lord Shawcross and I got the impression that he was pretty well informed.
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