Sydney exchange reflects bad year

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

Sydney exchange reflects bad year

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter— Copyright)

SYDNEY

“Almost every company report this year will no doubt stress that the past year has been one of the most difficult on record,” the chairman of the Sydney Stock Exchange (Mr J. H. Valder) says in the annual report.

It was a difficult year for the exchange, as it was for most of its 1300 listed companies, he says. A year ago the market was experiencing its most serious collapse for more than 40 years. In a table accompanying the review, total turnover for the 1974-75 year is given as sAust47s.2m, compared with $648.3m in the 1973-74 year, and $836.2m in the 1972-74 year. Turnover by volume dropped -from 1036.6 million shares in 1972-73 to 684.1 m in 1973-74 and 588.3 m in the latest year. The number of member firms of the exchange declined from 62 to 49. The collapse of Patrick Partners makes the total 48.

Apart from inflation, the most disturbing feature of the year has been the overspending by the Government in the private sector, Mr Valder says. “Profits have come under such pressure in the past year that, at last, there does now appear to be some realisation that profit is no longer the controversial word some considered it to be 12 or 18 months ago,” he says. The stock exchange’s income rose from $2,484,044 to $2,626,746 in the latest year. The major contribution to income was annual listing fees which amounted to $623,119 ($425,413). Expenditures totalled

$2,491,366 ($2,387,148), leaving a surplus before provisions of $135,380 ($96,896). After provisions the net surplus was $67,258 against a deficit of $259,726 the year before.

An examination of the Chicago options market has been in hand for several months, and the exchange hopes to introduce optiontrading in' Sydney before the end of this year.

The exchange hoped that option-trading will help to stimulate the interest of the private investor.