評(píng)論
打印
Prescription drugs, two packets of Beechams, a Shaper sandwich and some Brecon Carreg water.
處方藥，兩包美占集團(tuán)的藥物，一個(gè)塑身三明治和一些布雷肯克雷格水。
Over a century and a half, Boots had built up a business that serviced the most prosaic aspects of British life.
在一個(gè)半世紀(jì)的時(shí)間里，博姿創(chuàng)辦了一家服務(wù)于英國(guó)人生活中最平淡無(wú)奇的方面的公司。
Exciting, dynamic, a licence to print money? Nah.
令人興奮，充滿活力，一張印鈔許可證？不是。
But at its core was a stability underwritten by government money, public goodwill and a solid reputation.
但其核心是由政府資金、公眾信譽(yù)和堅(jiān)實(shí)的聲譽(yù)擔(dān)保的穩(wěn)定性。
Outwardly, 2007 changed nothing. The pharmacists still wore white coats.
從表面上看，2007年沒(méi)有什么改變。藥劑師仍然穿著白大褂。
The sign outside the shop was still the same blue and white cursive logo dating back to 1883.
商店外的標(biāo)志仍然是1883年以來(lái)的藍(lán)白草書(shū)標(biāo)志。
But behind the trusty facade was “the story of how one business model colonises another,”
倫敦瑪麗女王大學(xué)會(huì)計(jì)與金融學(xué)教授科林·哈斯拉姆表示，
according to Colin Haslam, professor in accounting and finance at Queen Mary University of London.
但在可信的外表背后是“一個(gè)商業(yè)模式如何征服另一個(gè)商業(yè)模式的故事，”
The everyday needs and ailments of communities across the UK
英國(guó)社區(qū)的日常需求和疾病治療
had been reconfigured as thousands of little revenue streams for a small transnational elite of ultra-wealthy investors,
已經(jīng)被重新配置為成千上萬(wàn)的小收入流，為一小撮跨國(guó)的超級(jí)富有的投資者精英們服務(wù)，
whose fortunes depended on those streams getting bigger, and fast.
他們的財(cái)富越來(lái)越多地依賴于那些收入流，而且很快。
To see how that changed our medical services, I asked Haslam to examine the accounts of Boots UK, the main British subsidiary of the continental conglomerate Alliance Boots.
為了了解這種情況如何改變了我們的醫(yī)療服務(wù)，我請(qǐng)哈斯拉姆檢查了博姿英國(guó)公司的賬目，博姿英國(guó)公司是聯(lián)合博姿在英國(guó)的主要子公司。
The investors’ method, as Haslam describes it, was “stretch and extract”: stretch company finances and staff as far as they can go – then extract profits.
正如哈斯拉姆所描述的，投資者的方法是“擴(kuò)張和榨取”：盡可能擴(kuò)大公司資金和員工，然后榨取利潤(rùn)。
Stretching began immediately, by loading up the new asset with billions in debt.
擴(kuò)張立即開(kāi)始，在新資產(chǎn)猛增的同時(shí)，公司背上了數(shù)十億美元的債務(wù)。
To buy Alliance Boots, Pessina and KKR had invested 2.5bn pounds of their own money – but they borrowed almost 9bn pounds from Barclays,
為了收購(gòu)聯(lián)合博姿，佩西納和科克羅公司動(dòng)用了25億英鎊自有資金——但它們從巴克萊銀行、
the Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup, JP Morgan, and Merrill Lynch among other banks.
蘇格蘭皇家銀行、花旗集團(tuán)、摩根大通和美林等銀行借款近90億英鎊。
The borrowed billions were then shoved onto the balance sheet of Boots UK Ltd –
隨后，借來(lái)的數(shù)十億美元被推到了博姿英國(guó)有限公司的資產(chǎn)負(fù)債表上
and those banks jumped to the front of the queue for repayment out of the profits made by the company.
這些銀行搶在了排隊(duì)的最前面，要求從該公司賺取的利潤(rùn)中償還借款。
