FERTILISER PROFITS REDUCED.

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 60, 8 September 1937, Page 14

FERTILISER PROFITS REDUCED.

A fall of £4960 in the profits of the Commonwealth Fertilisers and Chemicals, Ltd., is shown in the company's accounts for the year ended June 30. The. profit of £63,940 compares with £68,900 in 1935-36 and £73,490 in 1934-35. The preference dividend has been maintained at 7 per cent., requiring £68,780. That this company, whose prosperity is so-necessarily linked with that of primary industry, should have earned lower profits in a time when primary producers were emerging from the depression is something of a paradox. The sale of the alkali section of the business to Industrial Chemicals Pty., Ltd., at a satisfactory figure might account in part for the lower profit earned. Nevertheless, it is difficult to reconcile this company's results with those of Wallaroo-Mt. Lyell Fertilisers, Ltd., which earned £21,220 net in the same period, compared with a loss of £2580 in the previous year. The Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Co., Ltd.; holds 301,924 preference and 596,257 ordinary shares in Commonwealth Fertilisers. Mount Lyell also holds 27,150 shares in WallarooMt. Lyell.