Hard trading for builder

Press, 25 August 1983, Page 26

Hard trading for builder

PA Auckland Trading conditions for Neil Holdings, Ltd, were difficult in the year to March..3l, the chairman, Mr P. F. Clapshaw, says in the annual report. In the 1982 year, he says, inflation-proof bonds siphoned money out of the private sector and depleted the already inadequate sup s ply of private sector mortgage finance. Kiwi savings stock in the 1983 year, he says, ensured that the supply of mortgage finance did not rise to meet the demand.

Mr Clapshaw says that, with two other building firms, the company commissioned a professional study into the implications of increased housebuilding. The report concluded that the construction of an additional 3000 new houses would provide up to 16,000 extra jobs and have only minimal adverse effects elsewhere in the economy. All divisions of the com-

pany have traded profitably for the first quarter of the present financial year, he says, but at a lower level than for the corresponding period last year. Trading for the remainder of the year is likely to remain at present levels unless the economy receives some stimulus in anticipation of the 1984 general election.

As reported, Neil Holdings, Ltd, suffered a 10.4 per cent drop in audited net earnings to $1,466,866 in the year to March 31. The balance sheet shows shareholders’ funds of $21,675,278 ($20,593,413 in 1982), term liabilities of $4,756,648 ($3,805,126), and current liabilities of $16,799,358 ($17,459,852).

Fixed assets were $5,092,089 ($4,095,887), investments $309,618 ($69,525), land held for future development $5,061,510 ($6,456,057) and current assets $32,084,580 ($31,271,926).