FINANCE & COMMERCE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 1, 27 September 1943, Page 9

FINANCE & COMMERCE

Toohey’s, Ltd. Profit

Toobeys Ltd., brewer's, of Sydney, reports net prolit ot £149,184 for the. year ended July 31, an increase of Lyuoo. Allowance for depreciation is £1: Ob lower at £30,709. Last year's profit of £143,649 vv as subject to £21,152 short provided for 1910--11 taxation, leaving £122,497. Dividend is unchanged at 8 per cent., requiring £138,000, and £5OOO is allocated to stall provident fund. Carry forward is increased from £16,4(55 to £22,049. Heavy Steel Demand “Throughout the year an extremely heavy demand lias again been experienced for steel for defence and essential require-, meuts,” said Mr. IL C, Darling, chairman of directors, at the annual meeting of the Broken Hill Proprietary Co.. Ltd., in Mel'bourne. “This has meant the working of the plant to its maximum capacity. "Shipping remains one of our chief.an1. * o zvi iron

xletles, inasmuch as our stocks ol iron ore at Newcastle have be.en very much depleted, but with the help of New South Wales iron ore, production, though somewhat affected, has been reasonably well maintained. The Ferro Alloys plant has been further developed and is now meeting, in addition to, our own. a. wide variety of Australia’s requirements m this neiu. Supplies are most difficult to procure from. el “ Th ee blast furnace is proving valuable in that it is to a large extent relieving the New South Males furnaces of the necessity for producing foundry iron, thus permitting greater output or basic iron for steelmaking purposes. Ferro manganese requirements have also been produced in this furnace, lhe posit on obtaining at Port Kembla works of Australian Iron and Steel Ltd., so far as it relates to production, is similar to that existing at Newcastle, inasmuch as even effort is being made to produce the maximum possible tonnage of z steel products. Development of the shipyard continues to have attention, and the construction programme, has been pushed to the maximum consistent with labour available. Since the close ot the period another cargo .vessel has been commissioned. Au increase in the price of steel took place ’ast Octoher This was the first increase since war broke out. Rising costs due to many causes made this increase necessary, and it wa» put into effect with the approval of the Prices Commissioner. The price of steel in Australia still remains the. cheapest in the world.” Commonwealth Bank Profit

The annual, report of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia discloses that for the year ended June 30 profit from the general bank department, rural credits and note issife departments aggregated £3,160,118, uh against £2,232,432 for 1941-4-. I rou of the Commonwealth Savings Bank was £392,599, compared with £368,7u4 for 194140 The general banking departments profit was £873.135; rural credits department £44.281; and the note issue department? £2,247,702. During the year deposits with the nine_ trading banks Increased by over £65,000.000,. of. which slightly over £5,000,000 was in interestbearing deposits. On the other hand, advances and discounts continued to fall, the contraction for the year being slightly over £02,000.000. Advances of over £68.000,000 were made to wartime marketing boards, and over £17,000,000 to exporters in respect of shipments under contract with the British'Government. Aust. Foundation Invest Co.

Australian Foundation Investment Co., Melbourne, reports for the year ended June 3 net revenue £23,13: (£24,a6: last rear) Dividend is 4 per “ent., unchanged, taking £21.600. Transf<» to general reserve is £2500. as last year, which stands at £25,000. Issued capital £540,000, revenue appropriation £26.561 (£27,524 last year). Taxation provision, £i>742: external indebtedness. £133.424, including £119.18bank overdraft. Investments at cost less fluctuation reserve, £716,417—1a5t year £711,873, Market value of investments at June 30, 1943, was £701.367, against cost £761,442. At June 30, 1942, the market value was £534,586 and the cost £i<i9,342. Cash at bank and on deposit, £6545. Net tangible backing of shares is 5/4 for each 5/-- share. Investments number 481. of which 77.2 per cent, are in Australia and New Zealand, 5.6 per cent. Great Britain. 13.9 per cent, in the United States, and 2.6per cent, in Canada, 0.7 per cent, being in other countries. The percentages of types of securities are bonds and debentures, 3.2 per cent.: preference shares. 9.9 per cent.: and ordinary shares, 86.9 per cent. A net loss of £2444 resulted from various changes made in investments during the year -