Ever-Long Securities is engaged in the brokerage and financing business in Hong Kong and China. Mr. Kenneth Chi-Shing Cheung founded Styland Holdings in 1977. The company initially specialized in Eastern Europe trading, and was a leader in the field for many years. When the political environment in Eastern Europe became increasingly volatile and doing business there became increasingly risky, Mr. Cheung decisively changed direction and successfully developed the Group into a conglomerate. Not only has this strategy reduced the business risk faced by the Group, it has also stabilized its income stream by eliminating the uncertainty of relying on a single line of business. Styland Holdings' principal activities are: trading and manufacturing; infrastructure development and operation; securities and financing; and property investment and development. The Group has enjoyed excellent performance from all four areas of business. This has formed the basis of its recurrent earnings and growth. In 1991, when Styland Holdings went public, it had net assets exceeding HK$50 million. Over the years, the Group's net assets grew to HK$149 million in 1997 and to HK$436 million in 1999. As a medium-sized conglomerate, Styland Holdings is well structured and has a very solid financial foundation. The healthy liquidity, which serves as the strongest back up of the Group, together with the other greatly solid assets of the Group, will over time allow the Group to spin off each of its four areas of high potential business into independent operating units. Hong Kong has in the past undergone a number of financial and political crises. These have affected listed companies to varying degrees. Styland Holdings has consistently withstood the effects of these crises and continued to grow and build up its capital assets. Since it went public over seven years ago, its net assets have increased over eight-fold, which makes Styland Holdings a success story among medium-sized trading companies that have transformed themselves into conglomerates. The diversification of Styland Holdings into different lines of business helped the Group weather the Asian financial turmoil that occurred in October 1997. As a result, the Group was able to generate steady recurrent income, in contrast to the rising bad debts that were endemic to the market and the delinquent real estate accounts that other companies suffered. The prudent financial management strategy has succeeded in minimizing the impact on the Group of the current period of economic turmoil