The novelist James Clavell must have purchased a job lot of clichés when he wrote his two fictional blockbusters based on the history of the Hong Kong-based Jardine Matheson business empire. Noble House is set in the modern era, but it is Taipan, set in the 19th century, that is the more notorious of the two, filled with tales of intrigue in the opium trade and a smattering of sex. But in some respects Clavell’s imagination fell short of reality: the most extraordinary part of the story is the resilience and adaptability of this conglomerate as it marches towards its third century (it was founded in 1832) under firm family control.
Jardine Matheson’s accounts for 2006 are likely to show the group in better shape than it has been for some time. Jardines’ activities range from retailing and car sales to insurance and hotels, underpinned by a blue-chip property portfolio in Hong Kong. In recent years all this has started making serious money again. Profits of the group’s flagship trading company rose to $1,245 million in 2005, representing a ten-fold increase over the previous three years, after a loss in 2001.
Meanwhile, the group remains under the thumb of the dynasty that descends from William Keswick, a great-nephew of the Jardine founder, who ran the business in the 1870s when its focus had shifted from opium to real estate and railways. A fifth generation is being groomed; and the large and imposing figure of the former Spectator owner Henry Keswick still presides from London as chairman of Jardine Matheson Holdings. At 68 he shows no sign of relinquishing power — though inevitably there is talk of retirement in the air. He became taipan (head of the group’s Hong Kong-based interests) in 1970, at 31, and has effectively controlled the group ever since.
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