AUSTRALIAN REPORTS Concrete Industries Lifts Profit 30p.c.

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31499, 13 October 1967, Page 19

AUSTRALIAN REPORTS Concrete Industries Lifts Profit 30p.c.

(N Z. Press Association—Copyright)

SYDNEY, October 12.

The consolidated profit of Concrete Industries (Monier), Ltd, for the year to June 30 was $1,969,860, subject to final audit, compared with a profit of $1,506,070 for the same period last year, the directors reported today.

The profit was arrived at after charging $1,282,748 for depreciation and amortisation ($1,613,678 last year), provision for income tax $850,700 ($1,213,500), and allowing for minority interests. The directors said that in the 1966 accounts the provision for contingencies was increased to $5,750,000, mainly to provide for losses- at the North West Cape U.S. Navy communications centre in Western Australia.

They said the 1967 figures did not include any loss for the year in connection with that project, nor had it been thought, hecessary to vary the existing provision. The report said the directors had decided to recommend a final ordinary dividend of three per cent, mak-

ing a total of five per cent for the year.

Blue Metal

The consolidated net profit of Blue Metal Industries Ltd firmed by ' $126,642 to $2,552,695 for the year to June 30, the directors said in their advance report. This more than recovers the slight setback in the previous year when profit declined by $100,225. The earning rate improves to 22.4 per cent compared with 21.3 per cent the previous year arid 22.2 per cent for 1964-65. The dividend is held at the 15 per cent rate in force since 1959-60. It includes a steady final of 7i per cent.

John Fairfax

The group profit of John Fairfax Ltd for the 13 weeks to September 24 was higher than for the previous corresponding period, in spite of the two weeks and a half strike this year, directors say in the annual report. “Circulations and advertising volumes mostly continue to be buoyant but it is not possible to forecast the result for the 1968 financial year,” they say.

Penfolds Penfolds Wines Australia. Ltd, almost doubled the value of its wine and brandy stocks in 1966-67, after a change m the methods of valuation. The revaluation totalled $2,654,266 and lifted the value of stocks from $2,849,781 to $5,504,047. The change was mentioned by directors in their preliminary report last month, but little indication of its size was given. In yesterday’s full accounts, they say wine and brandy stocks are now valued at a “more realistic” level. A raw material cost basis has been used instead of the minimum values prescribed by the Income Tax Act Aust. Gypsum

Sales of Australian Gypsum Industries, Ltd, in the first three months of the current year are ahead of those for the previous corresponding period, the chairman (Mr Raymont Moore) -told shareholders at the annual meeting. This continued the trend of the past year when turnover improved as the year progressed, he said. The- directors were confident that the company would continue to secure its fair share of the available business, and expected a satisfactory result for the current year.