FINANCIAL JOTTINGS.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13104, 1 May 1908, Page 4

FINANCIAL JOTTINGS.

(FROM 0178 OWN COBRESrONTJEWT.) LONDON, March 20. Sir Clarence Smith, presiding at the annual meeting of Messrs Oaesell and Co., said that during th« year £30.000 had been added to the capital employed in tho business of tho company. The profits for tho past year was £1577, as compared with £6560 in 190 G. In these days of strenuous competition they could not expect to make a .profit in an industrial company if their machinery was antiquated or their establishment charges were not reduced to j email percentage of the' annual output. The new ventures had caught on. For "The Storyteller" the demand was extraordinary, and jcontinuod to be co; the "Peoplo's Library," the "Girl's Realm," and other "publications we«-o doing increasingly well. "A colonial loan which ought to meet with a very favourable reception," saya the "Globe," "is the £250,000 of 4 per cent Redemption Bonds at par by tho City of Ihinedin, New Zealand. The proceeds of the loan will bo applied toward the redemption of debentures, amounting in all to £435,800, maturing let April, 1903, and sinking funds amounting to over £193.000 will be available lor the redemption oi tho balance. Tho rateable value of Dunedm eihowe steady increase year by year." At* a meeting of Lever Brothers, at Port Sunlight, Cheshire, Mr W. H. Lever, M.P.. stated that the Beyer Company, of Germany, whoso capital was thirteen millions sterling had, as a result of tho amendment of tho British patent law. purchased 24 acrea of their Sunlicht estate for an aniline dye manufactory, which* beimg in oloso i/roxiiiiitv to the suict>«ls or Chcvuiue and the'coal fields of North Wales, would become the first manufacturing centre in tho Kingdom, and give employment to large num.be.rs. A number of reports have been ieeued this week by the leading drapery fiTms in London, and in epite of everybody being "hard up" the profits seem usually to bo pretty considerable. For instance, the report issued by Paquin shows tbat tho groes revenues amounted to £116,000, which ie slightly above that of the previous year, although 1906 was itself a record . year. The dividend has been, in- j creased from 18 to 20 per cent. Another prosperous urapory concern is | that of D. H. Evans and Co., of Ox- i ford street, whose net profits during! tho past year are some £5000 higher, at £68,700; additional capital ranks for dividends so.that the payment of last year's dividend of 22£ per cent. on. the ordinary shares absorbs £9000 more. The report of Messrs Dickins and Jones, of Resent street, shows a profit on trading for the year of £76,286 after providing for repairs and renewals, denreciation, and bad debts, and carrying £8699 to tb© sinking fuxdj the available balance - ie £89,500, and the Board propose a dividend at the rate of 124 per cent, on the ordinary shares, and a bonus of li per cent., which is the same as last year. A sum of £5000 is carried to reserve for equalisation of dividends, and i.2-4.000 brought into the new account. Messrs Nicholsons, of St. Paul's Churchyard, pay the same rate as last year, 7 per cent, on the ordinary shares and a continued improvement in the sales and an increase in tho profits is mentioned. Tho Governor of the Bank of England (Mr W. Middloton Campbell) stated at yesterday's half-yearly Court of Proprietors, that after making pro-

of profite and dividends was £650j7W. Tiwi usual dividend of 4i per cent, for the TiaJf-yoar w&a declared, payable on April Gtfh. after wUch the "Rftrt" will be £3,022,015. As com-par-3d with the previous half-year, tlie profit show a roduction of £7053, ajid tho "Rtt9t." is decreased by £4181. Tiio CoTirb met on tho day wihen tlie bank-rate- was reduced to 3 per cent., and Sir Israel Hart congratulated the directors on- having steered t3ie hank safejy through the k*e crjtiral .times arwl on reduoing ifoe> ra.t-0 at the earliest possible moment so that fhe commercial !pmsir>erity of the otra-btry not be interfered with. Ho ro-mai-keduhat - tlho B*ik of England, had tho entire-confidence of the people.