FINANCE AND COMMERCE

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23053, 22 June 1940, Page 9

FINANCE AND COMMERCE

_ SHARE MARKET DULL

DEBENTURE ISSUES IN DEMAND SOME DOMINION STOCKS FIRMER This week's Stock Exchange record is much the same as last week’s—a comparatively small volume of business divided fairly evenly between debentures and shares. Throughout the week bidding generally was spiritless with sellers predominating, but a new influence, in the Finance Emergency Regulations, caused an upward turn in some prices. The regulations prevent dealings and quotations in securities on foreign registers and after they had been announced local stocks and stocks of overseas .companies with branch registers in New Zealand—stocks which cannot be transferred outside the Dominion-—began to harden and for some of them buying offers at the close were higher than for some time. Dealings in the different sections wereValue. £ Government .. 2,075 2,132 Debentures .. 3.600 3,729 Shares No. Banks .. 200 383 Insurance .. 100 220 Loan and Agency 460 460 Frozen Meat . , 500 219 Gas .. 129 160 Breweries .. 700 1,050 Miscellaneous .. 1,115 1,96§ Mining .. 300 218 Turnover day by day was:— This Last Week. Week. £ £ Monday .. 3,142 1,647 Tuesday .. 1.461 2,226 Wednesday .. 4,360 757 Thursday .. 600 3.291 Friday .. 977 2.382 ' 10,540 10,303 Increased activity in Government loans was accompanied by a further hardening in prices. The gains were particularly noticeable in the 4 per cent, issues, some Of which were up to 15s dearer. Other debenture business was divided between local bodies and companies. - Bank shares generally moved toward lower levels, although New Zealand, which shared most of the business with National, recovered and closed firm. Commercial of Australia and New South Wales . were among the shares which lost ground. Insurances also eased further early in the week, but here again leading issues in New Zealand and South British recovered to show firmer levels at the close. The shipping, coaL .gas, and frozen meat groups were lifeless.- and; the- turnover in brewery-'shares was restricted to Dominion arid'-New'Zealand. -Dominion, cum dividend,, had sales at 29s and 29s 3d and New Zealand, after dropping to 30s, -rose sharply to 31s and closed firmer. , - ' Miscellaneous - industrial issues had . only small business at. if regular prices. Broken Hill lost ground to' 39s 3d. Cblonial Sugar were firm at £4B, and Woolworths ranged between 15s 4d and 15s, against 15s 5d and 15s 8d last week. Woolworths CN.Z.) were firmer at 13s 6d.'.-. . . . Among ; the New Zealand mining issues, Grey River, cum div.. at 14s 6d, were 2s 6d below last business on Mav 22, and' of the Australian issues, Lyells w-ere steady at 24s and Morgans were fractionally weaker at 8s Id and Es. - ■ MARKETS QUIET. BUT H' FIRM ’-t ;;; Markets .were quiet but firm on call yesterday; and the’- prices °I , sever , stocks showed improvement. The outstanding feature was th sharp advance in New Zealand Breweries. New Zealand Government, 4 per cent stock, due 1949-52, changed hands at £lO3. Bank of New Zealand rose to 40s. and more were.; wanted at ,39s 6d. South British were firmer, with business at; 445; and further-buyers at 44s 3d. Dominion ‘ Bfeweries were .firmer with buyers at 30s. Buyers_ of New Zealand Breweries raised their bids to 31s lOd, bxlt sellers wanted 345. Buyers of New. Zealand Drugs moveu up to 72s 6d. Wilsons Cement were stronger on buyers’ offers 15s 9d, Woolworths (New Zealand) were firmer, with business at 13s 6d, arid there 1 were further buyers at 13s- 10d,' seller i at 14s 6d. Sales Reported—£47s, New Zealand Government, 4 per cent, stock, 1949-52, £103; 100 Bank of New Zealand 40s; 100 South British Insurance, 445; 100 Woolworths (N.Z.). 13s 6d. NEW .ZEALAND DAIRY > COMPANY RECORD SEASON FOR PRODUCTION OUTPUT SHOWS SUBSTANTIAL -■ INCREASE PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) HAMILTON. June 21. A record season for production has just been completed by the New Zealand Dairy Company. The total output of all I products aggregated the large figure of 75,611 tons, an increase of 9623 tons over the previous year. A total of 50,566 tons of butter were manufactured, against 46,134 last.year; 14.569 tons of cheese compared with 9626; 8546 tons of milk powders, against 7557 last year; and 1924 tons bf condensed riiilk, cofnpared wit’ 1515 last season. ■ • At the company’s 16 butter factories me output ranged from 1329 tons to 5377 tons, while Abe highest output in the 24 choese’Tfactories was 1393 tons at Matangi. 1 • ■ PROPERTY SALES W. E. SIMES AND CO., Auctioneers and Estate Agents, 239 MANCHESTER STREET. Report the following sales:— ccount of Mr G. C. Jowers. farm ot 336 acres, together with all buildings. West Melton, to Mr Hinton. (A clearing sale of live and dead stock will be held on the 27th June). ” ALSO On behalf of Mrs Watson, 6-roomed residence, Moorhouse avenue. City, to Mr Robertson. ALSO On behalf of Mr s Butterfield. Freehold of Shop and Bungalow, St. Albans (Stock and fittings sold at valuation). ALSO On behalf of Mr Stewart, 5-roomed Davis ° W * Upp^r RiccfbAon. -|o Mr WE ARE ALWAYS SELLING. IF JOU WANT TO SELL YOUR PROPERTY PLEASE SEND US PARXICUr W. JL • •• • * CO. .(Established 1303). —1

, BANK OF NEW ZEALAND CHAIRMAN’S SURVEY AT ANNUAL MEETING (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, June 21. The annual meeting of the Bank of New Zealand was well attended, and was presided over by Mr R. W. Gibbs, in the absence of the chairman (Mr A. T. Donnelly) through illness. Mr Gibbs read/an address prepared by Mr Donnelly in which it was stated that long-term mortgage debenture stock at £500,000 showed a reduction of £107,050. Stock for this amount fell due in New Zealand on August 1 and was repaid. The balance of £500,000 was repayable in London on November 15 and would be repaid. Deposits, fixed and free, at £36,422,293 showed a net increase of £3,093,815. Fixed deposits, however, were lower, and the increase in free deposits was, therefore, greater than the net amount shown. Coin,. Reserve Bank notes, and deposits with bankets at £10,825.108 showed an increase of £3,147,190, due principally to heavier balances at the Reserve Bank which, at March 31, amounted to £7,438,000. Among the factors contributing to the larger Reserve Bank balances might be mentioned the earlier receipt of proceeds of Dominion produce owing to its sale to the British Government, and also additional use of Reserve Bank cx-edit by the Government for housing and other purposes, added Mr Donnelly. These factors also had a bearing on the increase in free deposits referred to. Money at call and shortnotice Government securities and other securities in London amounted to £6,066,263, an Increase of £1,675,000. Although an increase was shown, it should be understood that the bank had substantial * commitments and liabilities against these funds. British Government securities, in which the bank’s reserve fund of £3,575.000 were invested, were included in this item. N.Z. Government Securities New Zealand Government securities at £8,530,195 showed an increase of nearly £3,000,000, of which £1,000,000 represented an interest-free loan to the Government for the period of the war and six months thereafter, and the balance was mainly of short-dated stock purchased to employ some of the bank’s surplus, funds. It was reasonable to assume that, as time went on, the bank’s investments in Government securities would increase considerably. It was. always snd was still the policy of the bank to support,, industry, and', agriculture to as large en extent as was possible. Advances arid' bills discounted at £ 22,959.505 were lower by £ 4.243,144. This Substantial decrease reflected the altered conditions. Applications for new advances had not kept pace with reductions effected by customers in overdrafts. • The difficulty in obtaining overseas. stocks, due to import control and the war; had resulted in heavy reductions of traders’ stocks, with consequent decreases ,in overdrafts. Also, owing to uncertainty as to the future, there was a general tendency among customers not to borro’w to take up new investments for fresh enterprise. , ■ . Diyidend,Payinent: Mr-- - that a further 5 pet xent. dividend was being paid out: on ordinary shares, making 10 per cent, for the year. He explained that actual trading profits for the year were insufficient to pay the usual outgoings and maintain a dividend; of 10 per cent., but a decision given in the bank's favour by the House of Lords in a long-standing action with the British Inland Revenue Department resulted in a substantial sum previously set, aside to provide for British income tax being released and taken back into profits. ; The dividend on all classes of shares Would be ' payable at Wellington torixorrow, and at branches on receipt of ddvice-. - , , „ , Paying tribute to the staff on the cheerful facing _of extra duties imposed on them owing to the war, Mr Donnelly’s statement referred to the large number who had.'applied for leave of absence to enlist.. Owing to the nature of the bank’s business, it could not readily replace, men with casual clerks, arid a certain proportion of the staff must always be men with special knowledge and training in banking requirements. However, as many asTcould possibly be spared had been released and the increasing use of women clerks would enable the setting free Of more men for military duties. , In this connexion, the voluntary offer of the Bank Officers’ Guild and the Bank Officers’ Union to work .44 hours a week Without overtime'was greatly appreciated. The bank had undertaken tb make up the pay of all its officers on leave for either home service or service abroad to what would have been received had the officer remained in his civil occupation. A bonus of 7J per cent, had again been paid to members of the staff, including" those in the services. The motion for the adoption of the ennual report was carried without dissxnt. Acknowledging thanks to the management and staff, the General Manager (Mr H. R. H. Chalmers) mentioned that up to date 105 members of the staff were engaged on active service, while permission to enlist had been granted to a further 38. In addition to this, 90 had applied to enlist, but permission had not yet been granted. The rest of the staff had taken the additional work in their stride and he personally was very grateful to the Staff as a whole for the very valuable cooperation, assistance, arid their, loyalty to himself and the institution. SYDNEY NEWSPAPER’S AFFAIRS BANK INVITED TO APPOINT RECEIVER (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION-COPYRIGHT.) SYDNEY, June 21. . A meeting of the board of directors of the “Daily News’’ decided that the company was unable to carry on, and the Bank of New South Wales was invited to place a receiver in control of the assets of the company. • / t NO WOOL TRADE WITH EUROPE (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (Received June 21, 1.15 p.m.) LONDON. June 20. Bradford reports that there is no export trade with Europe at present. Any business is restricted to America and the Dominions. Limited supplies of crossbred yarns are available for civil trade. They are a shade dearer, but spot lots of botany yarn, originally intended for the Continent, are being re offered at slightly easier’ prices. _