H. C. Sleigh to pay dividends again

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33963, 2 October 1975, Page 18

H. C. Sleigh to pay dividends again

(New Zealand Preet Association— Copgriaht/

SYDNEY.

H. C. Sleigh, Ltd, is to resume the payment of ordinary dividends after returning to profitability in the second half of the year to June 30.

This year an early interim payment of 4 per cent (2c a share) will be made, and a second interim dividend will be paid in May, and a final dividend will be paid in November, the directors say.

The “Golden Fleece" petroleum group earned a net operating profit of $A2.9m in the six months to June 30, after a ($2.4m loss in the first half-year. The net profit for the year fell from $3.5m to $508,000, and no dividend will be paid for 1974-75. Sleigh cut its annual divlidend rate from 10 per cent ito 8 per cent in 1973-74 after a 17.4 per cent fall in net profit to $3.5m. Record sales Most of the net operating profit in the second half last year was earned in the last three months and a half, when the group had the full benefit of price increases granted by the Prices Justification Tribunal. Sleigh has annual sales of about 450 m gallons. It was granted an increase of I.Bc a gallon on December 16, 1974, and a further 2.45 c a gallon on March 7. Group sales for the year rose 26 per cent to a record $256.9m. The directors give no analysis of how the increase in sales was made up, nor do they give any indication of how the group’s nonpetroleum activities fared..

In the interim report they said that the shipping division, which had been depressed in the first half, was expected to show an improvement in the final six months.

They also said that the profit of the export division was buoyant, and that the 83 per cent-owned Norther Woodchips Pty, Ltd, had made a valuable contribution. The profit for the year was after providing $1,232,000 less at ($778,000 for tax. The provision for depreciation and amortisation rose $1,260,000 to s4.Bm. The earning rate on unchanged capital was a meagre 0.5 per cent, compared with 8.3 per cent previously, and 10.3 per cent in 1972-73. Preference dividends for the year absorb $310,000, leaving retained earnings of only $60,000. The group’s properties have been revalued by independent valuers, and the asset revaluation reserve has been increased from ($310,000 to slB.lm as at June 30, bringing the book-value of group properties to $67.3m.