Chapter 753: Targeted Strike
Chapter 736 – Targeted Strike
As the largest linen center in France, Lyon, which has always been known as the “Silk Center of Europe”, has now developed into a metropolis second only to Paris.
At the moment, this dazzling pearl, has not been glittering. Affected by the British and Austrian dumping, the French industrial and commercial sector ushered in the most brutal challenge.
The vast majority of companies have announced layoffs and production cuts, and the army of job seekers on the streets is growing by the day, with very few new jobs available.
Almost every recruitment is greeted with an uproar. Even if only three or five people are recruited, dozens will apply.
Arguably this is the easiest time for French companies to recruit and have their pick of good employees.
The companies that are able to recruit against the market are the most powerful. What is a crisis for ordinary companies is a rare opportunity for these giants.
The Lyon & Moore Textile Group is one of the brightest, with more than 170 factories of all sizes and more than 130,000 employees.
The industrial chain covers the upstream and downstream of the textile industry, including cotton spinning mills, linen spinning mills, woolen spinning mills, silk mills, printing and dyeing factories, garment factories …… and even their own raw material plantations.
In addition to the complete industrial chain, Moore Textile Group also has the most advanced contemporary textile technology, with various patents up to more than two hundred.
Such a giant, even if it was hit, the anti-risk ability is also the strongest.
Other companies have lost their money, Moore Textile Group can still make a profit. Although this profit has been minimal, which is an important difference.
In the eyes of the outside world, this big group with unlimited scenery is not having a good time right now.
Profitable enterprises will also be short of money, the outbreak of the stock market crash, foreign capital and the impact of the financial markets, the run on the market trend is getting more and more intense.
In order to cope with the crisis, the domestic banks have contracted the silver root, enterprise financing has become particularly difficult.
Moore Textile Group office building
President Moore Saldas looked at the latest financial statement and sighed deeply, “When will the bank’s loan come down?”
Moore Textile Group is also a consortium behind the support, but this native Lyon local consortium rooted in the industry, and the Paris gang of financiers can not piss in a gourd.
This local consortium is an accidental product of Napoleon III’s support for industry. If there are no accidents, under the support of the French government, this local consortium based on industry will slowly develop into a world-class consortium in the years to come.
The secretary replied back to Hank, “Mr. Moore, the situation has changed. A competitor has stepped in and there has been a serious run on the Bank of Lyon in recent times.
The bank is raising funds to protect itself, we have communicated through the consortium’s connections, and the bank has said that as long as it gets through the run crisis, it will release the funds in the shortest possible time.”
Upon hearing this news, Moore Saldas’ head hurt even more. The banks in the country had tightened their monetary roots, and unless they were very closely related, it was simply impossible to release the money.
Being in the same consortium, Moore Textile Group and Lyon Bank were both pillars of the consortium, and the shareholders behind the scenes were all cross-shareholdings, having long since formed a community of interest.
Prior to this, Moore Textile Group loans every time you can get the biggest discount, never been the bank side of the card.
Now rejected, obviously the bank really encountered a crisis, can not care about them as an ally.
Since Lyon Bank’s competitors have already made a move, they certainly won’t be aimless, which means that the bank side can’t be counted on in a short time.
The stock market crash is still raging, financing from the stock market is simply unrealistic, bank loans can’t come down in a short period of time, the financing channel left for enterprises is to issue bonds.
Contemplating for a while, Moore Sardars decisively gave up this unrealistic fantasy, with the current economic situation, the issuance of bonds is self-defeating.
“Notify down the line, suspend the construction of all new factories, and cancel the plan for the Great African Plantation. Have all departments take a careful inventory, and as long as they are not urgent projects, stop whatever you can first.”
In these recent years, Moore Textile Group has been expanding very fast. The profits of the company were smashed on the expansion, and it also carried a huge amount of debt.
Now that the economic situation was bad and there were problems with the capital chain, in order to save the group’s expenses, Moore Sardars terminated the group’s expansion program.
Secretary Hank reminded, “Mr. Moore, these plans were passed by the colleagues’ meeting and have already been announced to the public, I’m afraid that if we cancel them now ……”
Moore Saldas waved his hand, “This is a special time, I will explain the situation to all the knowledgable people.
Inform the directors that I’m going to call a board meeting in three days.
By the way, make an appointment with the mayor for me, we need the government’s help now.”
As a large group, with more than 100,000 people following the food under them, the impact on the surrounding economy is very serious, if Moore Textile Group is finished, the economy of the Lyon region can’t escape the fate of collapse.
Not waiting for Moore Saldas’ self-help operation to begin, the head of the Ministry of Commerce, Keith Anderson, barged in.
“President, something big is wrong. We just received news that a number of the group’s international orders have been rejected by the buyers.
We may have been targeted, the Ministry of Commerce has already sent people to communicate with them, and we estimate that there is little hope. The merchandise is still piled up on the ship and cannot be unloaded.
The Ministry of Commerce has notified us to suspend overseas orders and wait for further verification before making any plans.
But it’s still a step too late, and seven more ships have now left the harbor.”
This was the worst news Moore-Sardars had ever heard, absolutely none of it.
Occasionally an order defaulted, Moore’s group had encountered it, anyway, the deposit was collected, and it could still be resold to someone else at a low price, and the loss would not be much, the group could still afford to pocket it.
This sudden multiple orders default at the same time, the situation is different, obviously someone is specifically targeting.
Ordinary period is just, Moore textile group family big business, a little storm is nothing.
Now is different, is in the most competitive market, want to find a new buyer, that is quite difficult.
One bad, all these goods will be smashed in their own hands. Originally lack of cash flow Moore Textile Group, and then backlog a large number of goods, the enterprise will be dangerous.
Moore Saldas forced himself to calm down, “How much is the value of the defaulted orders, and how much money will we lose if all these commodities are smashed in our hands?”
Keith Anderson replied with a sobbing face, “The contract value of the defaulted orders is as high as in 120 million francs, and if we can’t find a buyer for these commodities behind us, we will lose as much as 105 million francs on our books.
If we only calculate the cost, our direct economic loss will also exceed 75 million francs.
This is just the beginning, and it is not certain that the following orders will be fulfilled properly.
If all the international orders, were to be defaulted on, then the final loss could reach 100 million francs.”
Moore Sardars’ face was gloomy all of a sudden, not to mention this kind of crisis time now, even if the loss of 100 million francs in normal times, it would make Moore Textile Group hurt its bones.
Thinking back to the group’s internationalization process, Moore Saldas finally found that something was wrong, the last one or two years were just too smooth.
Originally thought it was the dividends from the Russo-Prussian War, now he realized that he was afraid that this was a pit dug down for them by their competitors.
Defaults are the group’s big customers, both sides have cooperated more than once, except that the previous orders were very small.
This year, a sudden increase, originally Moore Sardars also wondered if there is a problem, but can not resist the order is too tempting.
The basic situation of the customer and they understand, in the local are very strong.
Although the amount of a little larger, but the deposit paid quickly, coupled with the beginning of the year when the economic situation is still good, did not find a problem contract signed.
Moore Sardars said slowly: “As soon as possible to this batch of goods to find the next home!
The group’s capital chain is already very tight, and the financial crisis broke out in the country, we must raise more cash in case of trouble.
Don’t be in pursuit of profits, as long as we can sell them, even if the price is cut at the waist, we’ll admit it.”
This is a dead horse as a living horse, Moore Textile Group is prestigious in France, in the international arena is still an uncompromising newcomer.
Even if they develop very quickly, relying on the influence of France, from the hands of the British to grab a not-so-small market, the roots are still not enough.
This breach of contract fiasco is the truest portrayal. If the roots were consolidated and there were multiple distributors in a region, this passive situation would not have occurred.
Since the enemy had struck out, they would naturally think about the problem of them finding their next home. Trying to sell this merchandise in a short period of time, it might be easier to ship it back home.
Of course, this could only be thought about. The increased freight cost is not to mention, already exported goods and then pull back, the disgrace is nothing, anyway, capitalists have thick skin.
The point is that now the French market has also been hit by the dumping of British textile products.
Moore Textile Group’s goods can only maintain a small profit, if they put more goods into the market, they will begin to lose money.
If a small loss can sell the stagnant commodities in their hands, the capitalists would have done it long ago.
These days, anyone who doesn’t have a few warehouses of goods in their hands is embarrassed to call themselves an entrepreneur.
The trouble is that the commodity sales price went down, but the sales did not see the rise, that is to add insult to injury, really killing people.
This is not a joke, but it is really happening. All industrial and commercial products are in the big price cut, Moore Group’s products also follow the trend of price cuts, but the total sales did not grow much.
……
The Moore Textile Group is not the only one that has been hit, but the heavy industry in France is the one that has been left floating in the dust compared to the light industry.
Into the second half of the year, the international coal market export prices appeared five consecutive increases, the total increase of up to 26.4%, especially the price of coke, the rate of increase is as high as one-third.
The substantial increase in raw material prices, so that the French steel industry into a difficult situation.
Not waiting for everyone to slow down, and then ushered in a major steel price cuts.
Britain and Austria to maintain synchronized action, the international market price of raw steel, pig iron fell by 15.4% and 18.6%, a large number of cheap steel influx, directly let the French heavy industry collectively into the era of negative interest rates.
Now in front of the French heavy industry is the problem: production is equal to the loss of money, the more production, the more losses; do not produce the same loss of money, the difference between the two lies only in the loss of how much of the problem.
……
(End of chapter)