P. AND O. BANK

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 33, 8 August 1934, Page 12

P. AND O. BANK

TRADE IN THE EAST

: (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, July 6. i Sir. W. E. Preston (chairman) presided at the fourteenth ordinary general meeting of the P. and O. Banking Corporation, Limited, held in London. ' The result of the year's transactions, after making all necessary provisions, he eaid, was a net profit of £112,383, slightly •in excess of last year's figure. They had made in this year's accounts a transfer ■to the contingency fund more than ample •for the care of accounts which they had had to nurse during these times of dejpression, and the provision which they ■now held in contingency exceeded the •amount required for bad and doubtful accounts.'

, After paying a dividend at the same ■rate as last year, the year's results would ■;leave a carry-forward £8000 in excess of the amount brought in, a very commendable achievement for which the board's 'and the shareholders' thanks would, he •wag sure, be readily accorded to the •management at home and. abroad. ■ Efforts to lift prices from the low .level to which' they had fallen in the ,w6rld-wide economic crisis had. only been jartially successful. In the <ase of tea, rubber, and tin, there had been some improvement, which had been reflected in the fortunes of firms and companies cpnWcted with those commodities. It was, however, on the purchasing power of the •western world that the revival depended -of that great export trade which was the life-blood of the banks engaged in Eastern 'banking. Only in the Straits and that portion of the Indian trade connected with 'the export of tea did they find any improvement. -J In' China, where the full blast of the ■economic blizzard was, not felt until some considerable time after it had fallen .on other countries, an acute depression had set in, and stagnancy in the commerce between China and the rest of the world 'had been a marked feature of the year. Silver, of which there were large unwanted stocks in the world, continued in potir ,demand; and they must .wait until the .world requirements of. the white metal broadened out and established a . solid jbasis for an upward movement in its price. , . ' Continued contraction In the demand for leading exports of the East was reflected to some extent in their figures.' They had fortunately been able to maintain their advances at a slightly higher level, and their holding of bills, at £2,134,364, showed very little change on the previous year s figures. In the exports of gold, the leading teature in India's interchange of commodities with the rest of the world, the bank had taken a good share. ■_ Their holdings of securities, increased by the narrowing of outlets for employment of their funds, stood at £0,218,406, scmie £823,000 higher than in the previous year. Following their usual policy over 83 per cent, of these investments were shortdated, so that the bank might be free to place at the disposal of commerce the funds temporarily employed in that form of investment. He had again to'record a year s satisfactory trading on the part of their affiliate, the Allahabad Bank, winch had consolidated' the improvement to which he had referred in his speech last year. The report and accounts were unanimously adopted; a dividend of 5 per cent., less income tax, was declared. The retiring directors, Mr. F. A. Johnston, Mr. A. d'A. Willis, and Sir Henry Pelham Wentworth Macnaghten, were re-elected.