麥格理分析師被驅離百富環球業績會議
A finance director threw an analyst out of a company results presentation in Hong Kong because he disagreed with the analyst’s negative views, in a rare example of a company lashing out personally and publicly against its critics.
香港一家公司的財務總監在公司業績發佈會上把一名分析師驅離會場，只因爲他不同意這名分析師的負面看法。這是企業在個人層面公開對批評者大發雷霆的罕見案例。
Chris Lee, chief financial officer of Pax Global, a maker of electronic payment terminals for retailers, asked Timothy Lam, an equity analyst at Macquarie, to leave before the meeting started.
百富環球(Pax Global)面向零售商製造電子支付終端。其首席財務官李書沸(Chris Lee)在會議開始前要求麥格理(Macquarie)股票分析師林子謙(Timothy Lam)離開會場。
Mr Lam, who eventually complied, is one of only two analysts of the 19 tracked by Bloomberg to have a negative rating on the company. The other, Leping Huang of Nomura, downgraded his view from “neutral” to “reduce” only after the incident — which observers say also highlights broader transparency issues. “While we do not judge this dispute, we think this may hurt Pax Global’s shareholder value,” Mr Huang told clients yesterday.
最終服從要求的林子謙，是彭博(Bloomberg)追蹤的19名分析師中，僅有的兩名給予百富環球負面評級的分析師之一。另一人是野村證券(Nomura)的黃樂平，他只是在這起事件之後才把自己對百富環球的評級從“中性”降至“減持”；觀察人士表示，這起事件還暴露了更廣泛的透明度問題。“儘管我們不評判這起糾紛，但我們認爲這可能損害百富環球的股東價值，”黃樂平昨日告訴客戶。
In a video shared on social media, Mr Lee is seen saying: “I didn’t invite you — out! You don’t have the right to stay here.” Mr Lam’s responses are inaudible. Mr Lee then replies, while taking the seated Mr Lam by the arm: “No, no, no, you are not; we didn’t send out anything, escort him out! That’s your umbrella, take it, go . . . ”
從社交媒體上分享的一段視頻中，可以看到李書沸在說：“我沒有邀請你——出去！你沒有權利坐在這裏。”林子謙的迴應聲音較輕，在視頻中聽不見。李書沸然後開口迴應，同時抓住仍然坐着的林子謙的手臂：“不，不，不，你沒有；我們沒有發過任何東西，把他帶出去！這是你的傘，拿着，走好……”
Shares in the company, which has a market capitalisation of around $975m, were 4 per cent lower at their weakest point, but closed 2.1 per cent lower at HK$6.64. Trading volumes were triple its average level.
該公司的市值約爲9.75億美元，昨日股價一度下跌4%，最終收跌於6.64港元，跌幅達2.1%。交易量達到平時水平的三倍。
In a statement, Mr Lee expressed regrets over his behaviour at Wednesday’s briefing and said he was “not against anyone or any institution that expresses their view”. He added: “It is not unacceptable taking a bearish view on us however . . . analysts as high-calibre professionals should be responsible for what they express in any professional publication.”
李書沸在一份聲明中對自己在週三發佈會上的行爲表達歉意，並稱“並非針對個別機構及人員去表達意見”。他補充說：“我原意亦非對看空的觀點就不能忍受，但是分析師作爲專業人員，本人理解其理應對所發表的意見盡責。”
The scene caused a stir in a city where analysts and bankers are used to companies with a tendency to be less than forthcoming. “If this were in Korea or Taiwan I wouldn’t be surprised. In Hong Kong, however, everyone sees these meetings as open season so if a company didn’t want the discussion or had something to hide, they usually just wouldn’t hold one,” said Keith Pogson, head of Asia financial services at EY and a member of the city’s Listing Committee, which approves all new entrants to the stock market.
在分析師和銀行家們對企業不願公開實情習以爲常的香港，趕走分析師的一幕引發轟動。“如果這是在韓國或是臺灣，我不會感到驚訝。然而在香港，大家都把這類會議視爲開放季節，如果一家公司不想討論或者有事情要隱藏，他們通常乾脆不舉行會議，”安永(EY)亞洲金融服務業務主管、負責審批香港上市申請的上市委員會成員包凱(Keith Pogson)表示。
The skirmish comes as lawmakers and others have been voicing concerns about wider issues of free speech in the Chinese territory.
這起小衝突發生之際，立法會議員和其他人紛紛對這個中國特別行政區的整體言論自由問題表示關注。
Mr Lam said in a client note yesterday: “We believe all analysts should be able to attend analyst briefing, regardless of their view on the company.”
林子謙昨日在一份發給客戶的簡報中表示：“我們相信所有分析師都應該能夠參加分析師會議，無論其對公司看法如何。”
Mr Lee told the Hong Kong Economic Journal, a Chinese language daily newspaper in the city, that Mr Lam had failed to “investigate the truth”.
李書沸對中文的《香港經濟日報》(Hong Kong Economic Journal)表示，林子謙未能“調查真相”。
Mr Lee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
李書沸沒有立即迴應記者的置評請求。
