COMPANY AFFAIRS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 285, 1 December 1932, Page 4

COMPANY AFFAIRS.

MORRIS, HEDSTROM, LIMITED. INTERIM DIVIDEND MAINTAINED. WELLINGTON, Wednesday. Morris, Hedstrom, Limited, merchants, Suva, have declared an interim dividend of 2 per cent on ordinary shares, payable on December 31. The rate is unchanged. TOOTH'S BREWERY. LAST YEARS OPERATIONS. Additional details of the accounts of Tooth, and Company, Limited, brewers, Sydney, for the year ended September 30, disclose that the net profit of £467.473, which was announced in the "Star" on November 24, was £13,356 below- last year's figure, £480,829. Profits in 1030 were £686,391, and in 1929 £634.054. There is a reduction of £168,270 in gross profits at £1,092,345. The dividend at 8 per cent for the year has been maintained, the total distribution being £449,647. The sum of £9000 has been transferred to the employees' benefit fund, increasing it to £55,372, and the balance, £8826, with £38,267 brought forward, gives £47,093 to be carried forward. Reserve fund and reserve for depreciation are unchanged at £800,000 and £75,000 respectively. Following is a comparison of the company's results and appropriations for the past threo years:—■ 1930. 1081. 1932. £ £ £ Crop* profit 1.593,797 1,260,015 1,092,345 Manngpnipiit ami taxation . 5107.40.T 779.75r. 024.872 Net profit . 08,0.391 -180,829 407,473 Divid., p.c. . 11 J 8 8 ' Amount ... 632,317 449,047 44U.G47 To reserve fund ... 50,000 *25,000 -— Employees' benefit . . — 7,000 9,000 Car. forward 39,080 38,267 47,093 •For depreciation. Paid-up capital is unchanged at £5,620,598. Creditors are owed £46,849 less at £463,701. Assets total £7,311,588, a decrease of £38,219. Against increases of £115,917 in breweries' plant, rolling stock and freeholds, and of £216,053 in Government stock debentures and bank deposits, bank balances have decreased by £38,989, stocks are lower by £111,911, and debtors owe £219,289 less. MOUNT LYELU As stated in the "Star" on November 12, the net profit of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company, Limited, for the year ended September 30, was £43,980, compared with £78,056 in the preceding year. The directors state that as a result of the advantageous exchange rate, the increased efficiency of all mining and treatment operations, and economies effected, the company was able to carry on mining operations in spite of the abnormally low price of copper. The average cost of producing a ton of electrolytic copper was reduced from £49 to £45, but the average price of the metal in London fell from £44 2/2 to £38 3/1 a ton. Adding the exchange rate, the Australian price of electrolytic copper in 1931-32 was only a little higher than the company's costs. Copper unsold on September 30 was taken into account at £30 a ton. According to the report dividends from shares in other companies were again affected by the adverse trading conditions. The directors state that revenue from this source was still below -what might be expected in normal times, but there was a gratifying improvement in the returns from fertiliser companies. The ore treated, 348,093 tons, was greater than in any previous year, and the lower grade deposits were drawn on more extensively. The ore treated assayed 3.35 per cent copper, compared with 3.77 per cent in the preceding year. The average grade of the ore reserves was 2.74 per cent copper.