WOOLWORTHS' NEW ISSUE

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28130, 20 November 1956, Page 19

WOOLWORTHS' NEW ISSUE

NO CAPITAL OFFERED TO SHAREHOLDERS (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 19. Woolworths. Ltd., Sydney, has issued a parcel of 650,000 ordinary 5s shares at a premium to nominees of J. B. Were and Son, Melbourne sharebrokers. Shareholders were not offered any shares in this issue. The shares were offered to J. B. Were and Son at 16s 2|d (Australian) each. The issue will raise a total of £528,000 —including on!” £ 162.500 capital. Funds are required to assist in the finance of the “considerable number .of new store sites which have been, and are being, acquired by the company’s subsidiaries in Australia,” directors state. The issue follows a one-for-four issue to ordinary shareholders, bringing in £1,070.912, announced last May, and paid up on October 1.

HOMERSHAM IRRIGATION ACCOUNTS

Net profit of Homersham Irrigation, Ltd., in its initial trading period—the 10 months ended October 1, 1956—was £1095. This represents an earning rate of 9.6 per cent, per annum on the. shareholders’ funds, shown as £13,669 at the balance date. Recommended dividend is at the rate of 7J per cent, per annum on the capital paid up at the balance date. Gross trading profit was £9003. Wages, etc., took £7241, depreciation £B3, audit fees £75, proposed directors’ fees £lOO, and provision for taxation £409. The sum of £209, a proportion of the preliminary expenses, has been written off, and dividend requirement is £742, leaving £144 to be carried forward. The initial period of operation is described by the directors as “very satisfactory.’’ In the last 12 months of irrigation trading, B. R. Homersham, Ltdmade 44 per cent, of the total sales: Homersham Irrigation, Ltd., commenced business only on December 1, 1955. "It is most gratifying to note that the total irrigation sales (which were a record) were approximately 10 per cent, higher than the amount forecast for the current 1956-57 financial year.’’ Paid-up capital totals £13,525, and carry-forward is £144. Plant and motor vehicles were valued at £709, and £7500 was represented by goodwill. Investments totalled £6O, and preliminary and issue expenses £5OO. Current assets totalled £18,758, and current liabilities £13,858.

PHILLIPPS AND IMPEY PROFIT REDUCED Net profit of Phillipps and Impey, Ltdoil and colour merchants, Auckland, was reduced by £5612 to £34,110 in the year ended August 31. Thte profit equalled an earning rate of 9.2 per cent, on shareholders? funds, against 11.2 per cent, in the previous year. The result was reached after tax provision of £30.789 (a reduction of £5256 from 1955) and depreciation of £6627 (a reduction of £335). Dividend has been maintained at 82 per cent., and requires £21,785. General reserve has been credited with £28,816 from the appropriation account, together with £3184 capital profit on the sale of an Anzac avenue section, increasing it by £32,000 to £lOO,OOO. In the previous year, no addition was made from the appropriation account, but a dividend of £BOOO from an associated company was added to the reserve.

The dividend and reserve appropriations exceed the net profit by £16,581, and £20,192 is carried forward, against £36,773 brought in.