Tradelink 2018 Annual Report

Chairman’s Statement (Continued) 主席報告書 （續） 07 二零一八年年報 貿易通電子貿易有限公司 Review (Continued) Other Services business also recorded revenue and segmental profit increase from HK$19.0 million and HK$11.4 million last year to HK$22.9 million and HK$14.8 million this year, representing an increase of 20.2% and 29.1%, respectively. Business of our PRC associate, Guangdong Nanfang Haian Science & Technology Service Company Limited (“Nanfang”) continued to be affected by the nation-wide implementation of the single window in China and as such the Group’s share of profit for 2018 from Nanfang dropped to HK$1.5 million compared to HK$2.4 million for 2017. Prospect Looking ahead, 2019 is going to be challenging and hard to predict for the business community. We are facing a lot of uncertainties, the most paramount being the negative impact of the Sino-US trade disputes on the global economy. The rise in protectionism will also create additional trade barriers, making the operating environment difficult for businesses. At time of writing my Statement here, there is still the risk of a ‘hard’ Brexit and, should that happen, the macroeconomic environment in Europe would be badly hit. As for our two major trade markets, the US and China, there have been signs of the market increasingly concerned about the US economy starting to slow down with its future direction unclear. As for the Chinese economy, it is also facing increasing downside risk. As all these factors with negative bearing on Hong Kong’s trading activities are beyond our control, we will just have to stay vigilant and do our best. For Tradelink, I am glad that we are well- prepared for overcoming these challenges. We have started some years ago to build a ‘firewall’ by diversifying our business to cover areas more immune to cyclical economic fluctuation. Our IDM business, for example, has largely been driven by the ever-changing and emerging cyber threats and the requirements of corporations for continuous enhancements of the security of their online services. The encouraging results of the business segment in recent years is evidence of the success of our business diversification strategy. 回顧（續） 其他服務業務亦錄得收益及分部溢利由去年的港 幣 19,000,000 元及港幣 11,400,000 元增加至今年 的港幣 22,900,000 元及港幣 14,800,000 元，分別增 加 20.2% 及 29.1% 。 中國聯營公司廣東南方海岸科技服務有限公司 （「南方」）的業務繼續受到中國全國實施的單一窗 口所影響，因此，本集團從南方於二零一八年分 佔的溢利由二零一七年的港幣 2,400,000 元下跌至 港幣 1,500,000 元。 前景 展望二零一九年，對於商界來說將是充滿挑戰性 及難以預測的一年。我們面對大量不確定因素， 對全球經濟的最大負面影響是中美貿易關係緊 張。保護主義抬頭也會造成額外的貿易壁壘，使 企業的經營環境變得困難。在本主席報告書執筆 時，亦有「硬脫歐」的風險存在，假如出現的話， 則歐洲的宏觀經濟環境將會受到嚴重打擊。就我 們的兩個主要貿易市場美國與中國而言，由於美 國的未來發展方向未明，現時已有跡象顯示市場 日益關注美國經濟開始放緩。另一方面，中國經 濟亦面對下行風險增加。所有有關對香港的貿易 活動造成負面影響的因素均在我們控制以外，而 我們只能繼續保持警惕及盡力而為。就貿易通而 言，本人慶幸我們在多年前已做好準備，在當時 已透過多元化發展業務而開始在多個領域建立 「防火牆」，令有關領域更能避免受到經濟周期波 動影響。例如我們的身份管理業務，對有關業務 的市場需求一直受到日新月異及新興網絡威脅， 以及企業需要持續提升用戶對其網上服務的安全 性而推動。近年來身份管理業務分部的成績令人 鼓舞，證明了我們業務多元化策略的成功。