New Year's Message from Chairman Li Jianhong

2019-12-31

On 31 December, Li Jianhong, Chairman of China Merchants Group, delivered his New Year’s speech to employees, which might also be of interest to an external audience.

Full text:

 

Dear colleagues,

At this moment of ringing out the old and ringing in the new, I would like to wish you and your family a happy new year on behalf of China Merchants Group.

Just a few days ago, we celebrated our company’s 147th birthday. Over the past 147 years, China Merchants has been remaining true to our original aspiration, developing steadily and forging ahead with bravery and innovation.

Looking back on 2019, we have gone through an extremely extraordinary year. Facing the complex situation of rising risks and challenges, we adhere to the strategic principle of “eye on the long-term, grasp the present, advance with science and technology, and embrace changes”, and work hard to overcome difficulties and achieved stable development.

We adhered to the company’s development philosophy of "quality first, efficiency next, and scale appropriate", set up PMO promoting higher quality and efficiency. The Group's revenue in 2019 exceeded 700 billion yuan, an increase of more than 10% year-on-year. The total profit surpassed 160 billion yuan, grew more than 12% from a year earlier. The net profit came to 120 billion yuan, up more than 16%. Key indicators kept growing relatively fast on the high level. The Group has been awarded Grade A Central Enterprises of good business performance for 15 consecutive years and has been awarded Outstanding Business Performance for five consecutive terms.

In 2019, China Merchants Group and China Merchants Bank’s positions in the Global Fortune 500 advanced by 36 and 25 respectively compared with those of 2018. We built and delivered the first luxury polar cruise ship of China, which has successfully completed its maiden voyage to Antarctica. The first working meeting on digitalization was held to enhance the digital transformation of the Group. Our land preparation work in Qianhai is completed with 100 billion-level resource reserve gaining momentum. Our life insurance business moved out of Guangdong for the first time, and entered Jiangsu. Our medical care business also made breakthroughs this year.

On the basis of successfully restructuring the real estate, shipping, port, highway, logistics and other industries in the past few years, the reorganization and integration of the Liaoning Port Group has been completed, which effectively released the vitality and competitiveness of the port sector. We introduced strategic investors for China Merchants Capital, with mixed capital promoting mechanism reform, and multiple parties being satisfied. We consolidated two state-owned high-quality property assets and made the whole public, the historical brand of China Merchants Property Operation has been restored. We accelerated the pace of market-oriented reform of China Merchants Securities, with the company becoming more competitive and receiving AA rating for 12 consecutive years. The private placement of China Merchants Energy Shipping achieved better results than the market expectation. The speed of our "going abroad" is getting faster. The group's global port network has expanded to 27 countries and regions with 68 terminals, as we just acquired 10 more overseas terminal assets. We made more than 1000 cargo trains raveling between China and Europe, holding over 10% market share, as our logistics service capability keeps growing. Our highway business expanded to abroad for the first time, as we utilized the industry-finance synergistic effect.

2020 will be the year of finishing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects for our country, and realizing the goal of building a world-class conglomerate for the Group.We must respond to changes, advance steadily, concentrate on crucial points, break through difficulties, eliminate blind spots, cultivate new sources of growth points.

In the new year, we should remain true to our original aspiration, stick to our long-term strategy and have faith in what we are doing.

In the new year, we should keep enhancing quality, efficiency and capability while persuing digital plus business and a market-oriented development path.

In the new year, we should be awareness of further risks and always getting prepared for changes and new challenges.

Dear colleagues,

CMG would not have come this far without your hard work and great contributions. All great undertakings are started with dreams, elevated with innovation and completed by hard work. Let’s join hands and create a better future.

       

     


 

About CMG>

CMG, founded in the Westernization Movement in 1872, is a pioneer in China's national industry and commerce. During past 140 years, CMG made a lot of firsts and acted as a leader in different business fields, like setting up the first commercial fleet, bank, insurance company in modern China. CMG plays an important role in economic history and social development history of modern China...

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