Page 5 - Sphere No.10 (Dec 2003)

SPHERE
3
Just two weeks after his historic trip into orbit
on Oct. 15, China’s space hero, astronaut
Colonel Yang Liwei, and a delegation of
Chinese space experts chose Harbour Plaza
Hong Kong as their base while on a flying
six-day visit to the territory. By all
accounts Colonel Yang was “over the
moon” about the service and
accommodation.
General Manager JonathanWilson presented
Colonel Yang with a 2.5kg hand-made
chocolate named “ShenzhouV” after the
spacecraft.The delicacy was specially designed
by the hotel’s award-winning pastry chef
Roger Luk.
Earlier, on Oct. 24-26, 20 contestants of the
first Ms Shanghai Beauty Pageant visited
Hong Kong – and where better for them
to stay than at the elegant Harbour Plaza
Hong Kong?
A welcome cocktail party was held at the
4,000-sq.-ft. luxury Presidential Suite, with a
live piano
performance and panoramic
views of Victoria Harbour adding to the
evening’s ambience.
Meanwhile, the 2003 Miss Chinese
Universe Pageant, organised by Phoenix
Satellite Television, was held at The Patio at
Harbour Plaza Metropolis with more than
50 entrants participating.
Reaching for the Stars
JV Fuels China Growth applause
Hong Kong Internet portal ESD life has
won four awards for its achievements
in e-government, e-commerce, and social
responsibility.
On the international scene, the website
came out on top in Asia's “e-government”
category of the United Nations’“World
Summit Award (WSA) 2003” organised
by the UNWorld Summit on the
Information Society.
ESDlife also won the award for “Best
e-Commerce Company” in the fourth
annual “Outstanding Information
Technology and Financial Enterprise
Awards” organised by Capital Magazine to
recognise outstanding performance and
achievement of Hong Kong enterprises.
For the second year running, ESDlife was
named “Caring Company 2003/04” by the
Hong Kong Council of Social Service
in recognition of its efforts in caring for
the community and commitment to
corporate citizenship.
Finally, ESDlife received a “Distinguished
Employers” award from the Hong Kong
Employment Development Service in
recognition of its support in providing
employment opportunities to the vulnerable.
The TOM Group has set up its first Sino-
foreign JV with state-owned
publisher Sanlian.TOM has
a 49% stake in the venture,
called Beijing Sanlian
Shiji Wenhua Chuanbo.
It will be involved in the print
media business, including advertising sales and
distribution of Sanlian’s four magazines, which
have a combined circulation of 3.8 million.
TOM will invest 24.5 million yuan
(approximately US$3 million) with Salian
contributing 15.5 million yuan in cash and
10 million yuan in assets.
TOM Reports
Q3 Profit
TOM has formed a JV with popular
newspaper BeijingYouth Daily to market
and promote the China Open, to be held
in Beijing in September 2004.Through its
sports marketing subsidiary Media Serv,
TOM has secured the rights from the
Association of Tennis Professionals
(ATP) to organise the first-ever ATP tennis
tournament in Beijing.The JV, China Open
Sports Marketing Co. Ltd., will combine
the strong local advertising and client
network strength of BeijingYouth Daily with
the sports marketing expertise of TOM.
Anyone for Tennis?
bites
PRICELESS: Miss Hong Kong (above left) visited the
Priceline booth during the opening ceremony at New
Town Plaza of the “E-Commerce Adoption Campaign
Roadshows — e-Commerce in Real Life” led by the
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and
funded by the government.
E - C O M M E R C E
P R O P E R T Y & H O T E L S
The TOM Group reported its second
consecutive quarter of profit attributable to
shareholders in the third quarter. Net profit rose
81% to HK$18.5 million (approximately
US$2.3 million) quarter on quarter while
EBITDA rose 25% from Q2 to HK$82 million.
Revenue for the nine months ended Sept. 30,
2003 amounted to HK$1.3 billion, 17% up on
the corresponding period in 2002. Operating
profit was HK$26 million compared to an
operating loss of HK$75 million for the same
period in 2002.