REID RUBBER CO.

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 85, 8 October 1945, Page 7

REID RUBBER CO.

CAPITAL RAISED TO £1.000,000,

P,,V. AUCKLAND, October 3. 'a' resolution thnt the capital of Reid New Zealand Rubber Mills, Ltd., be increased from £250,000 to £1,000.000 by tbe creation of 750.000 shares of £ Teach was unanimously adopted at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. This step has been taken consequent on the company being granted a licence for the manufacture of motor" tyres and tubes, and the new capital figure has been set at £1,000,000 to cover hot only the requirements tor the construction and equipment of a tyre factory at Ellerslie, with its .attendant expenditure for additional stocks, but also to provide a reserve of unissued capital in view of probable,.further expansion. The chairman of director, Mr. A. M. Seaman, referring to the licence, said, that under, arrangements mado with the B. P. Goodrich Company they would be supplied with all the latest technical . information. That service would be paid for, but the cost would be less than if the company, attempted its own research work. The Goodrich Company would take up 100,000 shares and provision would later be made to give it the right to appoint one director. That company's agents in New Zealand, E. W. Pidgeon and Co., Ltd., have undertaken to subscribe for 20,000 shares in the general issue to be made later, and meantime they had bought a substantial number of shares on the open market. Mr. G. C. W. Iteid had left for America to confer with the- Goodrich Company experts on factory design and lay-out and the selection of factory plant, lt was proposed to buy most of the plant in Britain. Till the plant was ordered the cost could not be stated definitely, but it was considered that the expenditure would be from £400,000 to £".40,000. lt was proposed to offer 100,000 shares to existing shareholders in the proportion of one for each two already held. It was expected that at least 12 months would elapse before the shares were offered.

The company's solicitor, Mr. 11. M. Rogerson, said the Goodrich Company and Pidgeon and Co. would come in on exactly tlie same terms as any*outsider. "If the shares are issued at a premium, no matter how high it is, they have to pay," he added. Referring to Pidgeon and Co., Mr. Rogerson said Reid Rubber would have its hands full with its new project without undertaking distribution. Pidgeon and Co., which was wholly owned by New Zealand shareholders and was selling for the- Goodrich Company, had been given the sole selling right of one brand of tyre. That left Reid Rubber free to distribute other tyres as it thought lit. MILBURN LIME AND CEMENT. Though the sale of cement during the 12 months ended July 31 ,was the highest recorded in the history of the Milburn Lime and Comcnt Co., Ltd., the result of the year's trading is described by the directors in their annual report as disappointing. Tlie report says the reduction in profit was due to the retrospective increase in wages and the high price of bags, while the selling price of cement and lime had not been incieased, and the rate of taxation remained unchanged. It seemed clear, .therefore, that tlie increase in price was justified and the directors were taking immediate steps to have application for increases in the selling price submitted to the Price Tribunal.

The net profit for the year was £5308. An interim dividend of %Vz per cent, absorbed £5000, and the directors recommend payment of a final dividend of IV* per cent., equalling £2500.