VICKERS LIMITED.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 138, 12 June 1926, Page 13

VICKERS LIMITED.

SHARES VALUE REDUCED. SOME FRANK DISCLOSURES. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, April 5. When a company is under the necessity of cutting down its f 1 shares to 6/S the time has come for making a frank disclosure of its weaknesses, and Mr. Douglas Vickers did not shrink from this at yesterday's meeting of Vickers, Ltd. The company has greatly diversified its activities since the war, and some of the new enterprises have done fairly well, though not all. The Barrow works were mentioned as having made both ends meet, and ,/one a little beyond. Metro-politan-Vickers have experienced depression in the Home trade, but it was seated that they have had many important orders —more than half of the whole, in fact— from aboard, and Glover's cable works, in Trafl'ord Park, have justified the recent extension. Armaments, however, have .been in little demand, and the large works devoted to them are evidently unprofitable. Representations have been made to the Government that they should make a maintenance allowance if they wish the plant and technical staff of this department to be in existence in 1931, when the building of heavy ships may be resumed, but Mr. Vickers sees no prospect of anything being done which will not leave a heavy burden on makers. Incidentally, he stated that the new electricity legislation, as might be expected, has created so much uncertainty that the manufacture of generating machinery has suffered a set-back.

From points like these, Mr. Vickers passed to details of the new managing bodies, mentioning the qualifications of the new men who have l>oen placed in responsible positions. It was probably a surprise to the meeting to learn that Sir Herbprt Lawrence, who has accepted tiie chairmanship, wished i; to be made clear that he could only occupy that position for a limited period. Mr. McKenna, who followed, expressed a confident opinion, as one of the advisers who bud recommended the reorganisation, that Vickers would now be transformed into a dividend-paying business, and capped this prophecy by stating that all ■the advisers had become shareholders. The whole of the directors having retired, the meeting showed its confidence by re-electing them, with the exception of Lord Invernairn, who did not wish to continue in office.