P. AND O. COMPANY

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 21050, 29 December 1933, Page 11

P. AND O. COMPANY

PREFERRED DIVIDEND ONLY (from cub own correspondent.) LONDON, November 24. The board of the P. and O. Company is again unable to recommend-any dividend on the £4,592,500 of deferred stock in respect cf the 12 months ended September 30 last. They recommend the usual dividend at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum on the preferred stock, less tax. Last year, for the first time since the stock was created in 1889, the deferred stockholders also received _no dividend. The total capital is £7,623,518 in £3,040,000 5 per cent, cumulative preferred and £4,592,518 deferred stock. British India Company. The directors of the British India Steam Navigation Company, which is controlled by the P. and O. Company, will recommend to the annual meeting on December 6 a dividend on the 5 per cent, cumulative preference stock for the half-year ended September 30 at the rate of 2J per cent., payable, less tax, on December 14; also a dividend of 23 per cent, on the 5J per cent, cumulative preference stock for the half-year ending December 31, payable, less tax, on January 1. A year ago a dividend of 2J per cent, free of tax, on the ordinary for the 12 months, was announced with the preference dividend recommendations. P. and O. defered units marked 9d lower at 16s cn the announcement, although the absence of dividend on the stock was not u: ,'xpccted. Foreign Subsidised Vessels. "Nothing is more calculated to bring home the serious plight of the industry than the 8.1. subsidiary—for the first time for many years—is also passing its ordinary dividend," the "Financial Times" comments. "As the chairman pointed out last week, even a giv .t improvement in trade, under present conditions, will bring no corresponding relief to British shipping. Its management is as efficient as ever—and none more so than that of the great P. and O. organisation—but the scales are weighted too heavily against it. In every single trade in which the company _s engaged it is faced with the competition of foreign vesels built and run with the aids of very large subsidies. Its difficulties have been enhanced by the depreciation of sterling, which has increased the aiready excessive Suez Canal dues—paid in gold francs. In the circumstances tue proprietors will support the board's determination to husband resources, which is clearly sound on every ground."