Briefs

Press, 14 April 1984, Page 22

Briefs

Dunedin bakery float The issue of shares in Laurensons Bakery, Ltd, of Dunedin, opened and closed immediately, heavily oversubscribed. The company is seeking stock exchange listing. The directors said they were pleased with the response to the issue of the 950,000 60c shares at a 50c premium and regretted it was necessary to scale down the applications. Smith-Bio. buy Smith-Biolab, Ltd has bought Lacklands Surgical, Ltd, the Auckland speciality medical marketing house for cash. Lackland’s products are sophisticated high-technology market leaders imported from the United States and Europe. No div. by VW Volkswagen, West Germany’s biggest carmaker, announced it was omitting a dividend to shareholders for the second year running. The decision reflects group net losses in each of the last two years of about JIISM. Although

it is the market leader in West Germany, VW saw its share of new-car registrations drop 2.2 per cent last year to 21.3 per cent. It expected to boost its world-wide vehicle output slightly to 2.12 M. New director Mr P. D. Skinner has been elected a director of the New Zealand Refining Company, Ltd, in the place of Mr R. A. Broughton who resigned. Board change Mr Dermot Neill has resigned as a director of Wilson Neill, Ltd, having reached the compulsory retiring age under the company’s articles of association. Mr C. H. Herbert, the chief executive of the company’s hotel division, has been appointed in his place. Import orders Private importers increased orders placed overseas 18 per cent during February. Orders worth $265M were placed in February, compared with $226M in January, according to the Department of Statistics. Mineral fuel orders for the six months to February totalled S7I4M down 4.1 per cent on the previous six months. The department said the

total value oi sales in February rose 20.7 per cent to 11464.2 M. After seasonal adjustments, the figures show an increase of 3.2 per cent in February compared with January. With similar adjustments the figures for February, 1984, were 16.8 per cent up from February last year. CBA appointment CBA Merchant Finance, Ltd, says Mr Murray Greer has been appointed the acting general manager, administration. Mr Greer has been seconded to CBA Finance for two years, from the Westpac Banking Corporation, where he has had

considerable administrative experience both at head office level and in branch banking. Merger blocked A Federal Appeals Court has blocked a proposed merger between Warner Bros Record Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Bros Communication Inc., and Polygram Records to create the world’s biggest record company. The appeal overturned an earlier lower court decision after the Federal Trade Commission had blocked the merger on March 6 on the grounds it would substantially reduce competition. A further ruling on the merger is expected next month.