WHALING PROFITS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 136, 5 March 1929, Page 7

WHALING PROFITS

; OPERATIONS IN ANTARCTIC I, ■ ' e t ’ DIVIDENDS UP TO 20 PER 2 CENT. i In view of the successful season experienced by the Ross Sea whalers this year, special interest attaches to a statement 1 regarding the operations and profits of the 1 Norwegian whaling companies working in the Antarctic, which was recently published in London. The statement was issued in compliance with the regulations of the London Stock Exchange by the Viking Whaling Company, a new company, which has a capital of £331,500, and proposes to carry on whaling in the Antarctic. The company is also investing in shares of the three Norwegian companies : “Vestvoid,” operating a land station at South Georgia, a tanker steamer, and eight whalers; “Sydhavet,” operating off the South Shetlands, with floating factury and three whalers; and “Rosshavet,” operating in the Ross Sea, and off the Balleny Islands, with two floating factories (Sir James Clark Ross and C. A. Larsen), and 11 whalers. Details are given of the operations of these companies for five years, ended July 31, 1928. In that period the South Georgia company has produced 348,800 barrels of oil; its net profits have aggregated about £1,043,000. It paid a dividend of 30 per

cent, in 1924, and in the following year a dividend of 50 per cent., together with a bonus of 40 per cent, in shares, increasing its capital to about £332,500. In 1926 ■ the dividend was 40 per cent., but ’ in the last two years it has been reduced to 25 and 15 per cent. The South Shetlands company is a smaller concern with a capital of £158,000. In the five years, it has taken 115,080 barrels of oil, its profits having been £332,400. Dividends have ranged from 30 per cent, in 1925 to only 5 per cent, in 1927,' when the profits were only £3500, but in 1928, 'with a return of £83,000, the dividend was increased to 20 per cent. , Ross Sea Figures. The Ross Sea Company had a capital of £195,000 at the beginning of the period, and this was doubled in'l926 to provide for the purchase of the C. A. Larsen, which commenced operations in the following season. This company production, net profits, and dividends have been as follows: — ' Dividends Barrels. Profits, per cent. £ 1923-24 .. 17,000 24,600 nil.

1924- .. 31,850 107,000 15 1925- .. 39,630 75,000 12 1926- .. 73,270 32,600 nil. 1927- .. 128,000 268,500 20 No deduction for depreciation or Norwegian taxation has been made from the amounts of profits. Both these and the capital sums are stated in krones, which for the purpose of this summary, have been taken at the flat rate of 18 to £l. In 1926-27 the three companies produced 167,000 barrels of oil, or about 24 per cent, of the total Norwegian production, and in 1927-28 their production was 230,000 barrels, or 28 per cent, of the Norwegian production. The latter is estimated at 60 per cent, of the world production. __________