BT had an article which said the net profits in 2010 and 2011 were derived from revaluation gains. Such pathetic results, yet the directors paid themselves more & more. This company is sinking lower and lower in public esteem.

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Meanwhile, in another meeting, a financial adviser and savvy stock-picker friend of mine said: " I will never buy stocks like Hong Fok." I asked: " Why? They are trading at below book value. That's what most value investors look for, right?"

" The directors pay themselves millions every year, in good times or bad," he said. A BT report back in 1998, one year after the Asian financial crisis began, noted that at Hong Fok, where the group suffered hefty losses of $14.9 million compared with profits of $7.9 million the year before, its directors picked up a bigger tab.

I went to take a look at the latest annual report of Hong Fok which owns International Building, The Concourse and Henderson Industrial Park and in Hong Kong, the Memo Building. Its market capitalisation is about $356 million. Last year, its group revenue totalled $129 million. Total assets in the group amounted to $1.75 billion.  Its net profit reported was $139.7 million, but $151.1 million came from gain on revaluation of investment properties. It would have been in the red without the revaluation gain. And the $151 million came on top of another revaluation gain of $88.2 million in 2010.

On its board were seven directors, four of them with executive roles. They are Cheong Kim Pong, Cheong Pin Chuan, Cheong Hooi Kheng and Cheong Sim Eng. The non-executive directors are Jackson Lee, Tan Tock Han and Lai Meng Seng.

Here are their fees. Mr Cheong Kim Pong and Mr Cheong Sim Eng were paid between $2.75 million and $3 million. Mr Cheong Pin Chuan took home between $2 million and $2.25 million. Meanwhile, Ms Cheong Hooi Kheng received $1.75 million to $2 million.

As for the non-executive directors, their fees were less than $250,000 each.

Assuming that each of the executive directors took home the mid-point of their remuneration range, the total directors fees amounted to $9.75 million.

The executives are paid handsomely too. The personal assistant to directors took home between $250,000 and $500,000. So did the vice-president of projects and vice-president of accounts and finance/company secretary, and vice-president of marketing.

The vice-president of property maintenance was richer by $500,000 to $750,000. And the vice-president of administration and personnel took home a whopping $750,000 to $1 million!

Hong Fok disclosed that the vice-president of administration and personnel, vice-president of property maintenance and personal assistant to directors are related to executive directors Mr Cheong Kim Pong, Mr Cheong Pin Chuan, Ms Cheong and Mr Cheong Sim Eng.