Industrial Gases well ahead

Press, 28 May 1982, Page 8

Industrial Gases well ahead

The estimated after-tax profit of New Zealand Industrie] Gases, Ltd, rose 31.7 per cent to $1,957,000 in the six months ended March 31, the directors announced yesterday.

The result was after a 31.7 per cent increase in the taxation provision to $2,251,000. Sales increased 23.6 per cent to $32.5 million.

The directors have declared an interim dividend of 10c a share, or 10 per cent (1981 — 9c a share on capital before the 2:11 bonus issue) payable on June 30.

The directors said that the strengthening of demand for all the company's major products, evident in the second half of the 1981 financial year continued during the six months ended March 31.

“Economic activity in general was stimulated by an increased money supply dur-

ing the early part of the period and this was reflected in high sales volumes of all gas products marketed by N.Z.I.G. In particular carbon dioxide and Handigas (L.P.G.) continued to grow significantly. “A pleasing feature of this first half-year was an improvement in the sales of welding equipment and consumables. With work having commenced in several major national projects, the level of activity in the heavy engineering industry increased, and sales of welding products reached the highest level for some years. In total, sales revenue was 23 per cent ahead of the corresponding period last year, against a background of national inflation of about 16 per cent. From the increased sales revenue, profit after tax increased 31 per cent to almost $2 million.” they said.