A BETTER YEAR

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 71, 17 December 1937, Page 14

A BETTER YEAR

Golden Bay Cement Co. DIVIDEND PAID At the annual general meeting of the Golden Bay Cement Co., Ltd., on Wednesday, Mr. J.. .IL A. Hott, chairman of directors, moving the adoption of the directors’ report and the accounts, previously summarised in this column, said the figures showed substantial improvement on those for the previous year. "The increased sales of Golden Bay cement have been due to greater activity in the building market, and to increased demand on the part of Government departments and local bodies, while another important factor has been the zoning system which, was arranged between the three companies operating in New Zealand. While we are glad to report this increase, our output is still substantially below that of pre-depression days. We face the coming year, however, with confidence, as we believe that the extensive public works programme outlined by the Government, together with greater activity on the part of local bodies, will result in further increases in demand. There is still much to do—many wooden bridges can, with advantage, be replaced with concrete structures, while we are also hopeful that, still more power boards will appreciate the value of concrete poles.

“Last year I indicated that I hoped that the comprehensive State scheme of housing construction would mean that many of the State houses would be built in concrete or in combinations of timber, brick and concrete. Thus far, not very much has been done in this direction, but the fact that tenders have been called for concrete houses recently leads us to hope that further developments may be expected. Together w’ith otber companies, we will be glad to co-operate with the Minister and his department in connection therewith. There is still great room for the utilisation of cement in the building of concrete roads, particularly as 90 per cent, of the money thus spent would go in wages.” The chairman said the tax reserve stood at £4209. The item “sundry creditors” also stood at a higher figure as compared with 1936, consequent upon the larger output and the resultant necessary increases in the purchases of coal, stores, etc.

Plant, machinery and buildings had been depreciated on the usual scale. The item “unused plant” had been reduced by sales of machinery no longer in use, together with depreciation on the balance, and now stood at £20,098/2/3. The item “cash on deposit and investments” had to be regarded as a fund to meet the heavy expenditures on new plant and machinery which were necessary in a cement factory, where obsolescence was of such vital importance. Although the new plant was erected so recently, already improvements in coal mills necessitated the scrapping of the present mill and a very large sum would be required for the purchase of a coal mill of the new type in the near future. In common with other manufacturing companies, they had had to face heavy increa_ses in costs as a result of the increases which had to be paid for wages, freight and stores in consequence of recent legislation. “Your directors recommend the payment of a dividend at the rate of 5 per cent, on t!*e paid-up capital. This is the first dividend that we have been able to pay over a period of seven years, the company having suffered severely as the result of demand being reduced to an unprofitable level during the depression.”

Mr. C. N. Cathie seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. The appointments of Mr. C. W. Salmon to the board of directors during the year and of Mr. C. N. Cathie as a shareholders’ director were confirmed. Mr. I’. IS. Pattrick was re-elected auditor of the company. Subsequently a meeting of debentureholders of the company was held under the chairmanship of Mr. J. S. Macarthur, who gave a brief resump of the working of the company' during the pqst year. The report was seconded by Mr. Hott and adopted.

Mr. Charles McArthur was re-elected as one of the debenture-holder directors ojl the board of the company.