Chapter 89: A Company Moving Toward International Expansion

Li Fu strolled leisurely through the industrial park of Fuyun Technology, glancing this way and that as though he were a wealthy old landlord inspecting his own estate. The once desolate countryside had now become lively and vibrant, full of vigor like the rising sun, infecting everyone around it with its energy.

Unconsciously, he found himself back at the headquarters building of Fuyun Technology Group. The newly hired security staff stood at the entrance in black uniforms, upright as bamboo poles, their faces set with firmness and their eyes keen as they swept over everyone coming and going.

They had all been recruited from the military, many of them even former special forces soldiers, each with extraordinary skill. Naturally, the company paid dearly for them as well. Their benefits were generous, and their annual salaries matched those of the company’s other employees; with bonuses and the like added on, the arrangement was quite good indeed.

This was the company headquarters, so security was relatively strict. The tightest protection of all, of course, was at the company’s research facilities. Li Fu had personally instructed Lao Fang to station heavy guards there, because within those walls lay far too many technologies coveted by the outside world. If even a single one leaked out, the company would suffer enormous losses.

"Hello, President Li!"

The two security guards at the entrance clearly had excellent eyes and recognized Li Fu at once.

"Mm, hard at work," Li Fu said with a smile, nodding as he entered the building. By then, the first floor had already been converted into a reception area, and at the staircase entrance there was even a card-swipe barrier that one had to pass through, with a goddess-like receptionist stationed nearby.

This was completely different from when Li Fu had left; it looked far more formal and could also keep random outsiders from entering the company’s core office area. But just then Li Fu paused, because he did not have an access card on him at all, and so he stood there at the entrance, momentarily at a loss.

"Miss, could you please help open the door?"

With no other choice, Li Fu walked over to the reception desk. The receptionist was still looking down at her computer; hearing him, she immediately looked up, then broke into a bright smile.

"Hello, President Li."

"Hello. Could you help open this door for me?"

Li Fu smiled and pointed to the card-swipe door leading toward the elevator.

"President Li, this is your access card. Since you haven’t come back all this time, I’ve been keeping it here."

The receptionist handed him a work card.

"Thank you."

Li Fu took the card with a smile, swiped through the entrance with ease, and rode the elevator straight to his office on the top floor.

"The CEO’s office?"

Li Fu shook his head with a smile. When he had left, there had been no such sign. After a full year of vigorous development, the company had become standardized in every respect, and nowhere more so than in the office area.

"Hello, President Li. I am your secretary, Ding Xuan."

As soon as he entered his office, a tall, beautiful woman with delicate features and a black business suit came forward with a smile. Li Fu’s office had also been divided into two rooms, one large and one small. The smaller outer room was clearly Ding Xuan’s workspace, while the larger inner office belonged to Li Fu himself, complete with a reception lounge, gym, and other facilities.

"Hello. This is our first meeting. I’ll be relying on you a great deal from now on."

Li Fu smiled and nodded. Lao Fang had already informed him in advance about hiring a secretary, and Li Fu had chosen her himself. Although Ding Xuan looked like a recent college graduate, she was actually already over thirty; she simply took excellent care of herself and was a highly professional secretary.

"President Li, you flatter me. This is my job. If I do anything poorly, please feel free to point it out."

Ding Xuan finally relaxed a little. The receptionist on the first floor had already notified her when Li Fu got on the elevator, which was why she had been able to greet him promptly. Li Fu seemed easy to deal with, and her future work should be relatively light. A secretary’s nightmare was a demanding boss who was impossible to please.

"Everyone keeps calling me 'President this' and 'President that.' It makes me sound older than I am. Just call me by my name from now on."

Li Fu smiled. He still wasn’t used to being addressed as "President."

"All right."

Ding Xuan nodded with a smile. Most big bosses were actually rather approachable and disliked being called this president or that president. She knew that much, though in general they usually would not be addressed directly by name, either—something like Old Li or Old Zhang would do. But Li Fu was so young that she would need to think carefully about how to address him in the future.

"Is Lao Fang in the company?"

Li Fu asked as he walked toward his office.

"President Fang has gone out to inspect the materials company in Yuanjiang Town. He won’t be back until three in the afternoon."

Ding Xuan followed behind him with a stack of documents in her arms. She was also very clear on the schedules of the company’s key executives, practically able to recite them from memory, remembering the times and places in detail.

"Where is Lao Zhong?"

Li Fu had originally intended to speak with Lao Fang about the company’s situation over the past few months. But since Fang Zheng wouldn’t be back until the afternoon, he decided to give up on that for now and instead look for Zhong Yun, the financial director, to get a detailed grasp of the company’s financial data.

"President Zhong is in the headquarters building. I’ll go over and ask him to come."

Ding Xuan immediately understood that Li Fu wanted to learn more about the financial figures, so she went out at once and called Zhong Yun.

Very soon, Zhong Yun arrived at Li Fu’s office carrying a financial report. He clearly knew what Li Fu wanted to know from him. As a boss who did not handle the company’s day-to-day affairs, Li Fu naturally paid most attention to finances.

"Li Fu, when did you get back?"

"Just now. I didn’t expect the company to have changed so much. I even wondered if I’d come to the wrong place."

Li Fu smiled. If he himself were in charge of the company, it would surely be a complete mess. But with Fang Zheng, a professional manager, handling things, everything was orderly and precise, and the company had rapidly moved onto the right track, marching toward becoming a top international high-tech enterprise.

"Haha, a lot has indeed changed while you were away. Our Fuyun Technology Group is now, after all, a globally renowned technology company, so everything else naturally has had to keep pace."

Zhong Yun laughed happily, clearly hearing the approval in Li Fu’s words for the company’s management team.

"How have the finances of the company been these past few months?"

Li Fu nodded with a smile and asked the financial question he cared about most.

"I was just about to report the company’s current financial situation to you. Over the past few months, as our production capacity for the AIDS treatment drug has continued to expand, our operating revenue has also seen explosive growth. In August, operating revenue reached 15.2 billion; in September, it broke through the 20 billion mark in one fell swoop; and although October still has a few days left, it has already exceeded 20 billion as well. Here are the detailed financial figures for your review."

When it came to the numbers, Zhong Yun immediately changed expression and handed Li Fu the detailed financial reports for the past few months. A company making two billion in revenue a month would, over the course of a year, generate nearly twenty-five billion in turnover—enough to place it among the world’s top five hundred enterprises.

And as the company’s CFO, Zhong Yun knew very well just how formidable its profitability was. The profit margin was absurdly high: out of two billion in monthly revenue, it was actually making more than 1.7 billion in net profit, and that was after tax. Of course, this also had a lot to do with the many tax incentives the company currently enjoyed. But even if it were taxed like an ordinary enterprise, Zhong Yun had already calculated that its after-tax profit could still reach more than seventy percent. It was terrifying beyond measure, and that was with the company already offering employees very high salaries and benefits.

If they followed the example of other ruthless capitalists, the profit margin could be raised even further. The production lines were running twenty-four hours a day, like money printers, continuously drawing vast sums from the global market.

"Boss, could we slow down our full-scale expansion a little? Although the company is bringing in money every month, our spending is also astonishingly high. Right now, we’re basically living from hand to mouth, and sometimes it isn’t even enough."

Zhong Yun offered Li Fu a somewhat helpless suggestion. The company was indeed taking in a lot, but the money was going out just as fast, flowing away like water. There were the second, third, and fourth phases of construction; there was investment in the Fuyun Technology Research Institute, that giant money-guzzling beast; there were plans for Sanjiang University and Sanjiang Hospital; and there was also the need to build automobile production lines. Added to that were the company’s lavish employee benefits and salaries, and the money simply was not enough.

A huge reserve of capital was extremely important to a company, because only then could its cash flow remain unbroken and the business continue operating steadily. As a CFO, Zhong Yun attached great importance to this. One need only look at the world-famous fruit company, which held 250 billion dollars in cash, or the famous orange company at home, which likewise held nearly 80 billion yuan in cash.

All the well-known giants in this world clutched enormous sums of money tightly in their hands, and there was, of course, profound wisdom behind it. As the saying goes, when the granary is full, the heart is calm; that is really what it means.

"Money only becomes money when it’s put to use. I can tell you for sure that in the future you’ll be worrying about the huge sums sitting in the company accounts. But for now, we still need to keep spending, step by step, until the roads ahead are laid out."

Li Fu smiled. This was the difference in perspective between a boss and a finance chief. Li Fu was thinking about laying the company’s foundation as quickly as possible to prepare for future development, while Zhong Yun hoped the company could proceed slowly and steadily, because tighter cash flow would increase operational risk.

"But, boss, the company’s capital chain is stretched awfully tight. If it breaks, things will be troublesome."

Zhong Yun said, a little helplessly.

"I know. It seems we can no longer rely on just one product to carry us forward!"

Thank you to the heartbroken 21-year-old for the 500-tip, and thank you to Qi He and Jiangnan Primary School for the tips.