Odlins plans premium issue at 75 cents

Press, 25 February 1977, Page 18

Odlins plans premium issue at 75 cents

Odlins. Ltd, had record profits and turnover for the ) nine months to December 31, and plans a cash issue ot 2,500,000 shares of 50c at an i issue price of 75c a share, , the directors say in an interim report. Although debtors and ■ stocks are under strict con- , tro) the increasing costs of ' replacement of adequate . stocks to service the wide- , spread business of the group, i and the need to finance ad- , ditional trade-debtors, be- . cause of increased sales, has ' resulted in extra funds being required. Instead of further borrow- 1 ing for this purpose, and to 1 assist with repayment of ) securities maturing later in ) the year, the directors have decided to make a premium 1 cash-issue, the report says. 1 The issue will be renounc- * able, andi wil] be on a ‘ one-for-eight basis for ordinary shares, and for the 1977 • and 1978 notes. Payments of 50c. including 1 the 25c premium, is to be 1 made on April 29, and the remaining 25c is to be paid I before October 15. i The new shares'will rankii for dividend from April 1, i but will not participate in ( the final dividend for the ; year to March 31. which is I expected to be paid in Sep- I tember. j I The issue is being under- t written by Daysh Renouf and Company, in association with ( the New Zealand United i Corporation. ■ After allowing for entitle-i <

ments to share and note-, holders, the balance of shares remaining are reserved for staff on the same terms as offered to existing share and note-holders. The proposed issue will) further consolidate the sound! financial position of the; group. With only one month! remaining in the current 1 trading year results are con-l sidered very satisfactory' and I the final accounts for the! year to March 31 should; again produce record figures, the directors say. Annua) dividends of 15 i per cent (7.5 c a share) on the ordinary capital are amply covered, and unless unforeseen circumstances occur in the future the directors do not expect any difficulty in maintaining this rate of dividend on the increased capital. Turnover in the nine months to December 31 was S76M, and unaudited group net trading profit was estimated to be more than S3M. The figures include the total earnings of Zip Holdings, Ltd, for the nine months, as this company is now 100 per cent owned by | Odlins, whereas the figures announced previously for the half year included only 51.5 per cent of Zip earnings because of the minority in-: terest at that time. The figures do not allow for another minority interest in the profit, which is small, nor do they take into account the equity earnings

of associated companies, the report says. Because of the inclusion of Zip Holdings for the first time a comparison with the previous year from a group point of view is not practicable. Regarded separately, however, Zip, and also Tingeys continue to show an increase in both sales, and subsidiary businesses of the Odlin group throughout New Zealand also showed increased turnover and profits compared with the previous year, with the exception of the land and housing division. The land and housing division is still profitable, and an improvement is expected when further housing finance is released by the Government.