COMMERCIAL NEWS IN BRIEF

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33601, 1 August 1974, Page 15

COMMERCIAL NEWS IN BRIEF

Can production Comalco, Ltd, has successfully negotiated a licence (with the Broken Hill ProI prietary Company, Ltd, (8.H.P.), for the development and manufacture of the alTuminium version of B.H.P.'s (patented press-button can end. Development work has l shown that the press-button principle is readily applicable to aluminium, and it is hoped to begin to introduce the new cans comercially in the coming summer’s selling season. These cans are fully recyclable. Pacific Films ahead The group net profit of Pacific Films, Ltd, Australian film processor, rose 36.2 per cent to $655,000 in the half year to June 30. Provision for taxation was $177,000 higher at $612,000 and depreciation rose by $96,000 to $288,000. The profit included the results of P. M. In-! dustries, Pty, Ltd. and its! subsidiaries, which were! acquired on November 30,1 last. The company will pay! an interim dividend of 6 per! cent. [Mining Co. insolvent Australian Antimony Corporation, N.L., one of the I “nickel boom” companies, is insolvent. Its assets fall $205,581 short of meeting the claims of unsecured creditors. Shareholders’ funds declined from $2,114,595 on July 31, 1973,

to a deficit of $205,581 as at June 20. However, the directors say that if the company continues its mining activities, sells its West Australian liquor interest, and convinces its creditors to wait for repayment of their debt, it may be able to pay the creditors within two! years. They even hope to re-, store an asset backing of 10c a share to the stock. Rex Consol, ahead Sales by Rex Consolidated, Ltd, in the first three months of the current year were 38 per cent higher than those in the first quarter of 1973-74, the chairman (Mr L. N. Ross)

told the annual meeting. This was 10 per cent ahead of budget. Mr Ross said that he deplored the attitude of people who returned from overseas visits and rushed into print with statements forecasting a severe slump. One or two difficult years lay ahead, but there was no place for abject pessimism, he said. Money injection The Reserve Bank of Aus-j tralia is releasing a further! $58.8m from the statutory! reserve-deposit accounts of the major trading banks by i lowering the deposit ratio! from 6 per cent to a record low of 5.5 per cent. The bank describes the move as a “further partial offset of the drain on liquidity being experienced by the banks.” It again emphasises that the

: cut is not an easing of mon- : etary policy, “which con-; i tinues to call for very firm ■ restraint in bank lengind.’’ Expansion in Aust. American subsidiaries in '■ Australia plan to expand I their new capital spending by ab6ut 29 per cent this I year, according to a survey i by the American Chamber of I Commerce in Australia. The rise to $643m comes after a decline last year of about 161 per cent to sslom. Last year’s drop in spending reflected a large decline in spending on mining and smelting activities, as well as on manufacturing. In the current year, spending in these two areas should rise to an estimated $446m. Hanimex expands Hanimex Corporation, Ltd, Australia, is continuing it rapid expansion in the field of electronic leisure equipment by enterng the television market. The company will import a range of four black and white portable television receivers, which will be tested and adjusted in Australia. Hanimex is! also thinking of manufacturing colour television sets,; and details of the programme may be announced soon. Hanimex has also an-| nounced a move into large audio equipment, away from its previous concentrationon portable audio units.