Ampol Half-year Prof it Rises

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31379, 26 May 1967, Page 14

Ampol Half-year Prof it Rises

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyrighti SYDNEY, May 24.

Ampol Petroleum, Ltd., lifted its profit by 18.5 per cent in the half-year to March 31, but the earning rate was lower on expanded capital.

Group net profit for the half-year was $2,657,292, an increase of $414,849 on the previous corresponding result. “The increased profit was mainly because of the refinery which is operating with increasing efficiency and profitability,” directors say in the interim report. Furthermore, the benefits arising from a reduction in the cost of imported crude, which the board recently negotiated, only began in the last quarter of the period under review. Since the close of the halfyear, sales of Barrow Island crude have begun and the wholesale price of motor spirit

was increased this month. These additional sources of profit should reflect in the next half-year’s results. The earning rate is 10.3 per cent on dividend-ranking ordinary capital of $50,562,582, adjusted to a yearly basis, and after deducting preference charges. This compares with 12.8 per cent of the previous corresponding period, on capital of $33,466,100. Ampol’s interim ordinary dividend for the current year is 5 per cent, in line with last year’s reduced rate of 10 per cent (interim 7, final 3 per cent). It will require $2,528,129.