LWR aims at efficiency

Press, 14 November 1978, Page 26

LWR aims at efficiency

Sales of Lane Walker.: Rudkin Industries. Ltd. to'; date are in line with budget,|i but after-tax profit for the h period are behind budget al-': though in line with last ; ■ ear. i The chairman (Mr N. H. : ’Rudkin) told the annual: : meeting yesterday that because of anticipated lack of. I growth in the domestic mar!ket any increase in profita-i ibility would have to come: (through cost control and (greater efficiency. At present the country j was seeing a small increase I (in consumer spending as a j result of a huge cash in-i ‘.jection into the economy by! ’the Government, Mr Rudkin! isaid ‘ The company’s directorsi (believed this would have a i ( relatively short-term effect ( (and in the long term couldj not offset the relatively poor: • I terms of trade and balance] (o. payments. ( “We are therefore ex(pecting that in the next year lor two there will be little (growth in the domestic mar-|k-t; we are budgeting sales

j accordingly and any increase • (in profitability must come I through the control of costs (and through greater efficien- ( cy,” said Mr Rudkin. ( Pre-tax profits would need I tc increase significantly to (overcome the decreased rate (of taxation incurred in the! i last year. I Forward orders for the l

second half of the current,! yea had started very well,! out had tended to taper off [and the company was now (spending big sums on advertising and promotion. In summary, said Mr Rud-i ‘kin, after-tax profit pros-! (peers looked similar to the lest year. In’line with policy capita! expenditure had been aimed not at increasing capacity ibut at improving efficiency. Capital commitments in’ the last year had been kept dov to less than §750.00P, ‘ (but would more than double Ithis year. Particular emphasis was i being placed on further up-( dating of .hosiery plant, on' faster and more efficient’ knitting machines, and on ’ ‘the most efficient fabric! ‘dyeing and finishing plant. I Commenting on the Joc-j (key and men’s sportswear: i divisions — which did noti (feature in the annual report! I— Mr Rudkin said Jockey! had produced a very creditable profit and was more than holding its traditionally large share of the men’s underwear market. During the year at least; eight new competitive! underwear brands had been launched on the market so; that the company was in-! creasingly having to devise | new techniques to. keep! ahead of competitors. ( Exports had increased 70 ( ‘per eent to §2.2M. Included 1 more than 100,000:1

Canterbury rugby jersey* which are regarded as the world’s premier football jersey. These were sold in 24 'countries including such unexpected places as Sri ; Lanka, Thailand, Sweden, land even — believe it or not — Antarctica, Mr Rudkin said. L.W.R. was seriously con‘centrating on exports, and senior executives w ere spending more and more (time adding thrusi to the (company’s export efforts. ! Of the 51 per cent interest acquired in Mathias Meats, ‘Mr Rudkin said that as a reIsult of this and its own in(vestigations the company 'had decided to pursue pros- ‘ peers of an investment in ‘the fishing industry, and I accordingly established iaIkaroa Fisheries, Ltd. He said the company did mot profess to be a fishing ’expert, and he believed (many people now becoming [involved would get their i fingers burnt. I “Nevertheless we have deIcided to investigate this industry, using the expertise ‘of successful foreign fishing ’operators in conjunction | with our own finance and (access to New Zealand [waters. “Applications for jointventure proposals are before the Government awaiting its decision. We then have to make our own decision whether to proceed with this type <?f investment.”