ICI result suffers from Fibre makers loss

Press, 20 January 1981, Page 18

ICI result suffers from Fibre makers loss

1 1 The major reason for the lidecline in the group net pro•jfit of IQI New Zealand, Ltd. I for the year to September ■|3o, was the loss incurred by >j Fibremakers New Zealand, '■Ltd, according to the chairman (Mr E. W. N. Jackson) • in the annual report. : The notes to the annual: ; accounts reveal that Fibre-; , makers contributed a loss of> $325,000. on an investment! I of $4.6 million. ' i Other reasons for the; lower profit were the effects' i of inflation on costs and the} higher cost of working capi-j tal, Mr Jackson said. In the first five months of; ■ the financial year, the bene-! fits of the arrangements to; ' run the Prestige/Holeproof ; (N.Z.), Ltd. synthetic fibre; production was reflected in! the performance of Fibre-1 makers. But the rejection of the part of the Industries Devel-! opment Commission report! I on synthetic fibres by the} Government, in February,; upset the remainder of then year. | r Because of the removal ofj protection from July ■ l.il many customers sought yam; supplies overseas, and this ; drop in demand was ex- <

>i acerbated by the fall ■ activity in the textile m- , dustrv generally, leading tc rlthe Wellington and Shannon •'factories closing, and leaving Jonlv Fibermakers’ Win plant ■'working bv the end of the 11 financial year. I On the other hand, the reI'port shows that ICI Tasman, (Ltd. had a record year in, i sales and profits, and leadling the group’s export drive. [The company ~e . a rn. „ ; 152,385,000 from St.IM tn- ■ vested. j ICI technology for the imanufacture of methanol has, ■been selected for the proposed plant in Taranaki, Mr ! Jackson said. 1 Petralgas Chemical, Ltd, [have also'selected ICI tech-; biology for the methanol, iplants associated with the- ; synthetic fuels project. : The company’s interest in, imineral exploration was con-; !fined during the year to the, i joint venture with Watties; [lndustries, Ltd, to continue, i exploration of the former t Broken Hills gold mine near; Tairua in the Coromandel| Peninsula, The accounts;! show ■ that Minzinip Explor-, ation. Ltd. ICT’s mining;; exploration and developmenti i

i company incurred a l 0« - $103,000 in the latest vear y The group has' lt : valued company-owned fand buildings by S9,23sftffi’l Lof which $8,119,000 is aS y utable to shareholders of [New Zealand company. ® .1 The revaluation ui' J carried out after careful fo r and advice froii' .! professional valuers, he sail As announced, the I profit fell 6 per cent to .'56,043,000, on sales 20.2 oer ■cent higher at 5178.3 M. , A recommended final diviJ dend of 11c. a share (U pt , cent) increases the annua) rate from 16c to share. The dividend rate rx quires $2,351,000 and is cov. ered 2.3 times by the profit ' ; Shareholders’ funds nw, $11,884,000 to $56,7M, in. ■ eluding steady ordinary cani. talofsl7.sM. Working capital rose 54.9 M to 537.9 M, and the current ratio improved from 2.0 to 2.2 to one. • ’ L ; The profit was after providing $859,000 more fpr depreciation at $3,329,000 i but $1,562,000 less for tax at : $4,246,000. - ■'-< ; At balance date the 100 c [shares had a net asset bucki ing of 205 c.