LOSSES TO BRITISH COMPANIES

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25638, 29 October 1948, Page 11

LOSSES TO BRITISH COMPANIES

GOVERNMENT POLICY BLAMED

Very real Josses had occurred in capital invented in fixed and current assets because the British Government had ignored the changed value of money in its taxation policy and when fixing prices and margins. This was emphasised by Sir Geoffrey Heyworth, chairman of Lever Brothers and Unilever, Ltd., at the annual meeting of shareholders in London recently. The Government's current revenue consisted partly of taxation on something that was not profit at all, but capital. Taxation was absorbing £100,000,000 to £150,000,000 sterling a year from capital assets of British industry. Unless companies were able to augment depreciation reserves out of taxed profits, the power ol production would inevitably be lost, and people would be thrown out of employment. The cost value of fixed assets of Lever Brothers at the end of 1947 was £82,000,000 sterling. Depreciation charged in the normal way would lead gradually to the accumulation of that sum for replacement of assets when required. To replace the company’s existing fixed assets to-day would cost £148.000,000 so that the depreciation fund would be deficient about £66,000,000.