MIRA INFORM REPORT

           

 

 

Report Date :

16.05.2013

 

IDENTIFICATION DETAILS

 

Name :

CENTURY  LEATHER  (FAR  EAST)  LTD.

 

 

Registered Office :

Room 2, 1/F., Block A, Sea View Estate, 2-8 Watson Road, North Point

 

 

Country :

Hong Kong 

 

 

Date of Incorporation :

31.05.1994

 

 

Com. Reg. No.:

18150192

 

 

Legal Form :

Private Limited Company

 

 

Line of Business :

Importer, Wholesaler and Re-exporter of all kinds of finished leather

 

 

No. of Employees :

09

 

RATING & COMMENTS

 

MIRA’s Rating :

Ba

 

RATING

STATUS

PROPOSED CREDIT LINE

41-55

Ba

Overall operation is considered normal. Capable to meet normal commitments.

Satisfactory

 

Status :

Satisfactory 

 

 

Payment Behaviour :

No  Complaints

 

 

Litigation :

Clear 

 

NOTES:

Any query related to this report can be made on e-mail: infodept@mirainform.com while quoting report number, name and date.

 

ECGC Country Risk Classification List – March 31st 2013

 

Country Name

Previous Rating

(31.12.2012)

Current Rating

(31.03.2013)

Hong Kong 

A2

A2

 

Risk Category

ECGC Classification

Insignificant

 

A1

Low

 

A2

Moderate

 

B1

High

 

B2

Very High

 

C1

Restricted

 

C2

Off-credit

 

D

 


Hong Kong ECONOMIC OVERVIEW

 

Hong Kong has a free market economy, highly dependent on international trade and finance - the value of goods and services trade, including the sizable share of re-exports, is about four times GDP. Hong Kong levies excise duties on only four commodities, namely: hard alcohol, tobacco, hydrocarbon oil, and methyl alcohol. There are no quotas or dumping laws. Hong Kong's open economy left it exposed to the global economic slowdown that began in 2008. Although increasing integration with China, through trade, tourism, and financial links, helped it to make an initial recovery more quickly than many observers anticipated, it again faces a possible slowdown as exports to the Euro zone and US slump. The Hong Kong government is promoting the Special Administrative Region (SAR) as the site for Chinese renminbi (RMB) internationalization. Hong Kong residents are allowed to establish RMB-denominated savings accounts; RMB-denominated corporate and Chinese government bonds have been issued in Hong Kong; and RMB trade settlement is allowed. The territory far exceeded the RMB conversion quota set by Beijing for trade settlements in 2010 due to the growth of earnings from exports to the mainland. RMB deposits grew to roughly 9.1% of total system deposits in Hong Kong by the end of 2012, an increase of 59% from the previous year. The government is pursuing efforts to introduce additional use of RMB in Hong Kong financial markets and is seeking to expand the RMB quota. The mainland has long been Hong Kong's largest trading partner, accounting for about half of Hong Kong's exports by value. Hong Kong's natural resources are limited, and food and raw materials must be imported. As a result of China's easing of travel restrictions, the number of mainland tourists to the territory has surged from 4.5 million in 2001 to 34.9 million in 2012, outnumbering visitors from all other countries combined. Hong Kong has also established itself as the premier stock market for Chinese firms seeking to list abroad. In 2012 mainland Chinese companies constituted about 46.6% of the firms listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and accounted for about 57.4% of the Exchange's market capitalization. During the past decade, as Hong Kong's manufacturing industry moved to the mainland, its service industry has grown rapidly. Growth slowed to 5% in 2011, and less than 2% in 2012. Credit expansion and tight housing supply conditions caused Hong Kong property prices to rise rapidly and inflation to rise 4.1% in 2012. Lower and middle income segments of the population are increasingly unable to afford adequate housing. Hong Kong continues to link its currency closely to the US dollar, maintaining an arrangement established in 1983.

 

Source : CIA

 


Company name

 

CENTURY  LEATHER  (FAR  EAST)  LTD.

 

 

Company ADDRESS

 

Room 2, 1/F., Block A, Sea View Estate, 2-8 Watson Road, North Point, Hong Kong.

PHONE:            2709 1710

FAX:                 2759 3706

E-MAIL:            nats.2007@gmail.com

 

 

MANAGEMENT

 

Managing Director:  Mr. Balachandran Natarajan

 

 

SUMMARY

 

Incorporated on:            31st May, 1994.

 

Organization:                 Private Limited Company.

 

Capital: Nominal:           HK$10,000.00

Issued: HK$2.00

 

Business Category:       Finished Leather Trader.

 

Employees:                  9.

 

Main Dealing Banker:     The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd., Hong Kong.

 

Banking Relation:          Satisfactory.


Company ADDRESS

 

Registered Head Office:-

Room 2, 1/F., Block A, Sea View Estate, 2-8 Watson Road, North Point, Hong Kong.

 

Associated Company:-

Century Leather Pty. Ltd., Australia.

 

 

BUSINESS REGISTRATION NUMBER

 

18150192

 

 

COMPANY FILE NUMBER

 

0480470

 

 

MANAGEMENT

 

Managing Director:  Mr. Balachandran Natarajan

Sales Manager:  Mr. Geoff Harris

Sales Assistant:  Mr. Dilip Wong

 

 

CAPITAL

 

Nominal Share Capital: HK$10,000.00 (Divided into 10,000 shares of HK$1.00 each)

 

Issued Share Capital: HK$2.00

 

SHAREHOLDERS

(As per registry dated 31-05-2012)

 

Name

 

No. of shares

Balachandran NATARAJAN

 

1

Meera Balachandran NATARAJAN

 

1

 

 

––

 

Total:

2

=

 


DIRECTORS

(As per registry dated 31-05-2012)

 

Name

(Nationality)

 

Address

Balachandran NATARAJAN

#3801 Royal Domain Tower, 368 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.

 

Meera Balachandran NATARAJAN

#3801 Royal Domain Tower, 368 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.

 

 

SECRETARY 

(As per registry dated 31-05-2012)

 

Name

Address

Co. No.

Credit Secretaries Ltd.

Room 2, 1/F., Block A, Sea View Estate, 2‑8 Watson Road, North Point, Hong Kong.

0031114

 

 

HISTORY

 

The subject was incorporated on 31st May, 1994 as a private limited liability company under the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance.

 

Long time ago, the subject had been located at Unit 12, 6/F., Block B2, Yau Tong Industrial City, 17 Ko Fai Road, Yau Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong.  Later it was located at Room 2, 1/F., Block A, Sea View Estate, 2-8 Watson Road, North Point, Hong Kong, moved to Workshop 16 & 17, 3/F., Po Hing Centre, 18 Wang Chiu Road, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong on 16th November, 2000; to Workshop 15-16, 3/F. of the same building in May 2004; to Unit 5, 8/F., Block C, Ko Fai Industrial Building, 7 Ko Fai Road, Yau Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong in April 2007; to Unit 9, 5/F., Cheong Tai Factory Building, 16 Tai Yau Street, San Po Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong in May 2009; and further to the present address in June 2011.

 

Apart from these, neither material change nor amendment has been ever traced and noted.

 

 

OPERATIONS

 

Activities:                      Importer, Wholesaler and Re-exporter.

 

Lines:                           All kinds of finished leather.

 

Employees:                  9.

 

Commodities Imported: Imported from Europe, India, Australia, etc.

 

Markets:                        Hong Kong, China, other Asian countries, etc.

 

Terms/Sales:                 L/C or as per contracted.

 

Terms/Buying:               L/C, D/P and T/T.

 

 

MEMBERSHIP

 

The Federation of Hong Kong Footwear Ltd., Hong Kong.

[Membership No. OMF3112]

 

 

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

 

Nominal Share Capital: HK$10,000.00 (Divided into 10,000 shares of HK$1.00 each)

 

Issued Share Capital:     HK$2.00

 

Profit & Loss:               Made small profits in the past years.

 

Condition:                     Keeping in an active manner.

 

Facilities:                      Making active use of general banking facilities.

 

Payment:                      Met trade commitments as required.

 

Commercial Morality:     Satisfactory.

 

Banker:                         The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd., Hong Kong.

 

Standing:                      Good.

 

 

GENERAL

 

Century Leather (Far East) Ltd. is a private limited company equally owned by Mr. Balachandran Natarajan and Mr. Meera Balachandran Natarajan.  The subject has just issued 2 ordinary shares of HK$1.00 each while each of the shareholders holds a single share.  The two Mr. Natarajans are foreigners each holding an Australia passport and once had lived in Melbourne, Australia.  They moved to Hong Kong in the late 90’s.  Their quarters in Hong Kong are provided by the subject.

The subject moved to the present address in June 2011.

The subject’s associated company is Century Leather Pty. Ltd., an Australia-based firm.  The subject actually is a member of the Century Leather Group of companies which are engaged in international sourcing and wholesaling of finished leather for leather shoes, leather handbags and other leather products.

The Group’s head office is in Australia and has got a branch company in India, besides the subject in Hong Kong.

The subject is specialized in glazed kid, cow full grain, corrected grain, oil pull ups and box leather, calf, cow natural and dyed crust leather, buffalo calf, kid suede, kid/cow linings and industrial leathers from various origins.  However, India is one of its principal supplying countries.

The subject also represents some of the tanneries in the world providing customers with consistent quality leather.  It also stocks shoe finishes from world famous German company FATO.

The subject is an ordinary member of The Federation of Hong Kong Footwear Ltd. (previously known as Hong Kong Leather Shoe & Shoe Material Merchants Association Ltd.), a Hong Kong-based association.

In order to penetrate the markets further, the subject has participated “The Asia Pacific Leather Fair”.  The Asia Pacific Leather Fair is organised by Asia Pacific Leather Fair Ltd., a joint venture between CMP Asia and SIC Group.  The Fair is held in China annually.

Mr. Balachandran Natarajan is also the Vice President of Australia India Business Council - Victoria.  To our knowledge, he is Managing Director of Lynfarm Holdings, a company in Australia that operates four Quest Branded Serviced apartment businesses spread over Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Gladstone.  He is also a leading and highly respected businessman in the global leather trading business.

Having a history of about nineteen years, the subject has developed long term business ties with a number of foreign suppliers and buyers in China and the other Asian countries.  Business is active and annual sales turnover is significant.

The subject’s business is mainly handled by Mr. Balachandran Natarajan.  Overall business is satisfactory.

On the whole, consider the subject good for normal business engagements.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES

 

Currency

Unit

Indian Rupees

US Dollar

1

Rs.54.78

UK Pound

1

Rs.83.38

Euro

1

Rs.70.72

 

INFORMATION DETAILS

 

Report Prepared by :

MNL

 

RATING EXPLANATIONS

 

RATING

STATUS

 

 

PROPOSED CREDIT LINE

>86

Aaa

Possesses an extremely sound financial base with the strongest capability for timely payment of interest and principal sums

 

Unlimited

71-85

Aa

Possesses adequate working capital. No caution needed for credit transaction. It has above average (strong) capability for payment of interest and principal sums

 

Large

56-70

A

Financial & operational base are regarded healthy. General unfavourable factors will not cause fatal effect. Satisfactory capability for payment of interest and principal sums

 

Fairly Large

41-55

Ba

Overall operation is considered normal. Capable to meet normal commitments.

 

Satisfactory

26-40

B

Capability to overcome financial difficulties seems comparatively below average.

 

Small

11-25

Ca

Adverse factors are apparent. Repayment of interest and principal sums in default or expected to be in default upon maturity

 

Limited with full security

<10

C

Absolute credit risk exists. Caution needed to be exercised

 

 

Credit not recommended

----

NB

New Business

----

 

This score serves as a reference to assess SC’s credit risk and to set the amount of credit to be extended. It is calculated from a composite of weighted scores obtained from each of the major sections of this report. The assessed factors and their relative weights (as indicated through %) are as follows:

 

Financial condition (40%)            Ownership background (20%)                  Payment record (10%)

Credit history (10%)                   Market trend (10%)                                Operational size (10%)

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This report is issued at your request without any risk and responsibility on the part of MIRA INFORM PRIVATE LIMITED (MIPL) or its officials.