Commercial news in brief

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33676, 28 October 1974, Page 16

Commercial news in brief

Gold-rush in London ' The’ price of gold rose? suddenly in London onj Thursday, t o more thanj SL'SI63 an ounce. Dealing: was extremely active, and demand spilled over into silver and platinum. The price : of gold rose more than $5 by the afternoon. Some trailers ascribed the gold rush to growing signs that gold will be in heavy demand in the United States from January 1 — the date when a 40-year-old ban on private ownership of gold bullion will be lifted. s2oom withdrawn At least S2oom was withdrawn from building societies in Australia this month, the South Australian president of the Building Societies’ Association (Mr B. Martin) said. This almost halved the number of houses which would be financed by building society loans during the year. The major cause of heavy withdrawals from building societies, which began about October 4, was; “unfounded, illogical and perhaps malicious rumours.” 1 The run on withdrawals had now stopped, and there was! a high inflow of cash to building societies in every state, he said. Enquiry sought Creditors of the Queensland subsidiary of the Mainline Corporation have decided that there are still some pertinent questions to be answered before they agree to write off their ! losses, and have moved to I seek a national inquiry into the operations of the Mainline group of companies before its collapse, with particular reference to the failure of the Queensland company. Many creditors felt that the Queensland subsidiary was being made to ibear the brunt of losses in ■ other subsidiaries. Take-overs ‘wasteful'* One in three takeovers by British companies is a failure, and in 1972 as much as £looom of shareholders money was wasted as a result, a British management study showed. A financial consultant, John Kitching. said that of 145 British acquisitions over seven i years, some 30 per cent i were failures and another 17 per cent were ‘not worth repeating.’ 1.8. M. Aust, earnings The earnings of 1.8. M. Australia, Ltd, surged ahead in the six months ended June 30, after their reverse in the 1973 year. The group ■ net trading profit rose 50.9 jper cent to $4,593,000 after higher outright 2?' es . ?!

|data-processing equipment [lifted revenue 22.9 per cent. iThe interim dividend payable to the United States-con-itrolled parent, 1.8. M. World [Trade Corporation, has been increased from $1,550,000 to i $2,700,000. In the 1973 year, 1.8. M. Australia’s net profit! fell 12.2 per cent to:' $6,812,000. Hantersley prospects Hamersley Holdings, Ltd,'| which sells nearly 70 per i cent of its iron ore to Japan, 1 and small but significant, ( quantities to China and [' South Korea, is negotiating ■ < for new markets in other 11 Asian countries. Hamersleylt said that Australia had a significant location advan- [ i tage compared with most I i potential competitors, but i that Australian iron-ore pro- < ducers were likely to face 1 severe competition from pro- i ducers in Africa and South i America. At last count, it i said, about 35 new iron-ore < projects were on the draw- < ing boards around the world. \