亞洲企業股東價值遭重創 Record percentage of Asian companies destroying shareholder value

A record percentage of Asian companies are destroying value for their shareholders, in a sign of the increasing strains caused by the region’s slowing economies and as the prospect of higher US interest rates looms.

亞洲企業中股東價值在流失的比例創下紀錄，這表明，在美國加息前景隱隱迫近之際（編者注：美聯儲上週四決定維持利率不變），該地區經濟放緩對企業造成越來越大的壓力。

A total of 38 per cent of companies in the region — excluding Japan — return less on their invested capital than those funds cost them in the first place, according to analysts at CLSA, the regional brokerage. The percentage burning through cash — 13 per cent — is also at a three-year peak, while a fifth are borrowing to pay dividends.

亞洲券商里昂證券(CLSA)的分析顯示，在除日本外的亞洲地區，投入資本回報率小於資本最初獲得成本的企業比例達38%。而燒錢企業的比例達13%，同樣處於3年來的峯值，同時五分之一的企業正在用借的錢支付股息。

The study, of the 2,500 biggest companies in Asia-Pacific outside Japan, comes as company watchers raise the alarm about the quality of financial reporting, notably in Hong Kong. There, the number of warnings that auditors have made about the health of companies has risen sharply.

里昂證券公佈這份對（除日本以外的）亞太地區最大的2500家公司的研究之際，正值觀察人士對企業（特別是香港地區的企業）財務報表的質量發出了警告。在香港，審計師就企業健康狀況發出警告的數量急劇增加。

The number of profit warnings to the city’s stock exchange is also rising fast, with 1,285 filed so far this year; the highest by this point in the calendar in the eight years for which data are available.

審計師向香港證券交易所遞交的盈利警告數量也迅速增加，今年迄今已遞交1285次警告，是該數據有記錄8年以來相同時間段內次數最多的一年。

CLSA’s findings were part of a report screening the region’s companies for so-called red flags that could signal issues with the quality of their earnings or balance sheets.

里昂證券的發現是對亞洲企業進行所謂“危險信號”審查的報告的一部分。這些信號可能顯示出相關企業在利潤或資產負債表狀況方面存在問題。

“Asian companies have tended to focus more on top-line growth than profitability,” said Desh Peramunetilleke, head of microstrategy at CLSA, and author of the report, who added that rising US rates were likely to increase the strains companies faced. “Where sales growth is slowing, higher interest rates are the last thing you’d want.”

“相比盈利能力，亞洲企業往往更關注總收入增長，”里昂證券的微觀策略主管德什槧拉穆內蒂拉克(Desh Peramunetilleke)說。作爲該報告的作者，他又說，美國加息很可能加劇企業面臨的壓力。“在銷售收入增長放緩的情況下，你最不想看到的就是加息。”