Huttons seeks more growth

Press, 28 October 1982, Page 25

Huttons seeks more growth

PA Wellington Huttons, N.Z., Ltd, directors had no illusions about the economic downturn affecting New Zealand, said the chairman, Mr J. D. Pottinger, at the company’s 100th annual meeting in Wellington yesterday. Mr Pottinger predicted that the company would not be affected from a profit point of view unless a major downturn occurred. Huttons intended to improve to compete with local competitors, he said.

In response to a question from Mr J. A. Boyd, a shareholder, Mr Pottinger said that the associate company, Wellington Bye Products Holdings, was making modest profits.

“It is not the immediate intention of the company to do anything with it (the associate company),” he said.

Commenting on the three old Gear shops in Gisborne still owned by Huttons, Mr

Pottinger said: “Our ultimate intention is to dispose of them. Probably within the next 12 months they will be sold as retail shops.”

Mr B. A. Hancox, a director, assured another shareholder that Huttons expected to continue paying tax-free dividends to shareholders. Reserves were available to do so.

The meeting decided that directors’ fees would be increased by $20,000 to $40,000 a year as soon as the incomes freeze was lifted (expected to be on June 22, 1983). Mr Pottinger justified the increase, saying that fees had not been altered since 1978.

Earlier in the meeting Mr Pottinger told shareholders that Huttons, N.Z., Ltd, combined its two predecessors, J. C. Hutton (N.Z.), Ltd, and Gear Meat Company, Ltd. Mr Pottinger sees the company as expanding in the next year, including in its export trade.