Commerce, Mining, & Finance

Evening Star, Issue 22718, 4 August 1937, Page 6

Commerce, Mining, & Finance

OVERSEAS STOCKS QUOTATION ON EXCHANGE NEW PRACTICE ADOPTED An innovation iu the form of an overseas list for the quotation of comSanies’ stocks has been adopted by the few Zealand Stock Exchanges. This list is appended to the official list and provides for the quotation of certain overseas companies for which there was no provision under the rules. With regard to Australian companies an arrangement exists whereby those listed officially on the Sydney or Melbourne Exchanges are automatically officially quoted in New Zealand, but no such arrangement exists with some of the larger and more distant exchanges of the world. To overcome this the Dunedin Stock Exchange will quote an overseas list attached to the official list, in which quotations for any British or American concerns may be announced. It will include such companies as Woolworths (South Africa), which is officially quoted on the Johannesburg Exchange, and which appeared recently on the unofficial list on the Dunedin' Exchange. SHEEPSKIN SALES Messrs Dalgety and Co. Ltd. report having received the following cable from their head office, London :—Sheepskins; 3,294 hales offered. Fair attendance, Home trade and America and Continent operating. Compettiion slow. Withdrawal heavy, mostly clothing. As compared with closing rates of last series, all descriptions New Zealand par to 5 per cent, lower. Cross-bred three-quarter to full-wooled, fine, 13id to 16Jd; three-quarter to full-wooled, medium and cohrse, lOd to 15d ; threequarter to half-wooled, IOJd to 13id; quarter to half-wooled, medium and coarse, 9d to 13d; short and shorn, 9d to lid. Lambs, 10id to 16Jd. THE SEARCH FOR GOLD THE MARTHA MINE

The following information has been cabled to London from the Martha mine, Waihi: —No. 2 level, north branch of Martha lode: Reef in crosscut at 200 ft west; have driven to east on this reef 34ft. Assay value is 26s a ton and width about 2*ft. No. 6 level, north branch of Martha lode, west of Giddens north crosscut: The next 38ft is ore of good grade, about 2ft wide. No. 6 level, north branch of Martha lode, west of Espir crosscut : The next 38ft is ore of good grade, about Sift wide. BORNEO GOLD EXPLORATIONS . Th_e directors of Borneo Gold Exploration N.L. report that the company’s total holdings under license in Netherlands West, (Borneo are approximately 69,500 acres. It is intended to test the areas by goring and pitting, and should results warrant it, to form an operating company or companies to work the property by dredging or other methods. Expenditure in' the year ended April 30 exceeded income by £BOS. At that date current assets appeared at £2,211 and outside liabilities at £ll3. RIMU RETURN [Per United Press Association.] ' HOKITIKA, August 4. The Rimu dredge return to August 2 for 128 hours (51,928 yards treated) was 831.60 z. SHARE-HAWKING PROHIBITION PROPOSED IN VICTORIA The Victorian Companies Bill, which is now before the Legislative Assembly of that State, proposes what amounts to total prohibition of share-hawking. The relevant clause reads: “ No person shall, whether by appointment or otherwise, go from place to place offering shares for subscription or purchase bo the public or any member of the public.” The Bill thus follows the recommendation of Mr Justice Halse Rogers, of New South Wales, and prohibits the hawking of shares and debentures. It is much stronger than the New South Wales Companies Act, which makes it unlawful to offer shares from house to house, but adds _ a definition of “ house,” which provides several loopholes for the share salesman. Legal opinion is that, offices, shops, and the shop portion of a shop and dwelling are not covered by the Act, and that in the case, for example, of a grazier or farmer, who uses part of his house for office purposes, it may be a question of degree to be decided on the facts whether an offence has been committed.

COMPANY NEWS DOMINION RUBBER COMPANY DIVIDEND DECLARED. At a meeting of the directors of the Dominion Rubber Company Ltd. a dividend at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum in respect of the half-year ended May 31 was declared, and will be payable on September I. ZING CORPORATION’S GOOD PROSPECTS “It is doubtful whether Viscount Horne ever made a more justifiably optimistic speech,” declares the ‘ Financial News,’ commenting on the Zinc Corporation’s annual meeting. The journal considers that the company’s programme to extend production to 730,000 tons a year after 1940 indicates /the ■ board’s great confidence in the mine’s ore reserves. Even if the price of lead and spelter fell to £2O a ton, or less, the corporation’s prospects would still be good. BRADFORD COTTON 16 PER CENT. ON ORDINARIES, Bradford Cotton Mills Ltd. shows a net profit of £26,966 for the year ended June 30, compared with £21,591 for the previous year. Gross profits, after providing for plant depreciation and all direct manufacturing charges, were £53,651, an increase of £5,348. Preference dividend accounts for £2,400; Ordinary dividend is raised by 2$ to 12* per cent. (6i interim and 6J final),’ and bonus of 24 per cent, remains. Ordinary dividend and bonus require £16,125. A sum of £6,594 is added to the general reserve, making it £21,000, and with £4,044 brought forward £5,892 is carried forward, HANDLEY PAGE LTD. Handley Page Ltd., aircraft manufacturers, England, announce a profit of £272,304 for 1936, which is an increase of £76,567 over the 1935 total of £195,737. The works during 1936 have been, almost entirely employed on the production of the company’s new types of aircraft for Royal Air Force squadrons. Extension’s to the works were completed toward the end of the year, and a further extension is now being carried out at the aerodrome at Radlett to meet the increased demands of the present programme. GENERAL MOTORS (U.S.A.) PROFIT OF £47,696,500.

The General Motors Corporation of America recorded a net profit of 238,482,425 dollars ■ (£47,696,600 sterling) in 1936. The company received a dividentd of 40 per cent., or £386,320 : (Australian) from its holding in the Australian company. Dividends paid, including those on common and preferred stock, totalled 202,081,519 dollars (£40,416,300 sterling), which was an all-time record, and the sum of 36,400,906 dollars (£7,280,200 sterling) was retained in the business for protection and expansion. Motor car registrations in the United States recovered in 1936 to 91 per cent, of the pre-depression peak in 1929. The corporation’s net sales throughout the world, on the basis of net wholesale value of all its products was 1,439,289,940 dollars (£287,858,000 sterling), representing a gain of 24 per cent, compared with the previous year. The corporation’s world sales reached 2,037,690 units, a gain of 18 per cent, compared with 1935. This was a new record, the corporation having produced and sold approximately 37 per cent, of the entire, world sales in motor cars and trucks. WALLARROfI-MDUHT LYELL FERTILISERS Wallarroo-Mount Lyell Fertilisers Ltd., of South Australia, has declared a dividend of 5 per cent, for the year ended June 30, payable on August 4. No distribution was made in 1935-36, and in that year a loss of £2,584 was recorded. FELT AND TEXTILES LTD. Felt and Textiles of Australia Ltd. is a prosperous company which is expected to need more capital in the near future. Since 1921 the company and its subsidiaries have been manufacturing felt and felt products. Sales approached the £1,000,000 mark last year, and £IIO,OOO of additional capital was raised in February last. The issue raised the tangible book value of shareholders’ funds to £330,000,. and reduced liabilities to about £200,000. Debtors and stocks were only £60,000 greater than the liabilities, but fixed assets were valued at £270,000. Even on those figures another £50,000 of capital would have been useful, especially as new subsidiaries making wool tops and woven carpets were only commencing production. If the upward trend of sales of felt floor covering and other major lines continues, a £IOO,OOO issue on a one-for-four basis may result. OLYMPIC TYRE COMPANY . NEW CAPITAL ISSUE. Business of Olympic Tyro and Rubber Company Ltd. has expanded to such an extent that profits for the year ended June 30 last were £20,000 better than those of the previous year, at about £35.000, and a new issue of capital is to be made. This will take the form of one new share for every two held at par, raising issued capital 'to £405,000. LONDON APPLE MARKET The Otago Provincial Fruitgrowers’ Cotmcil advises that the report from the High Commissioner, under date August 2 stated;—Fair demand but no improvement in prices. Granny Smith, 12s to 14s; Dougherty, 11s to 13s; Rokewood. Yates, 9s to 11s; Tasma, 9s to 10s Gd; Stunner, Newtown Pippin, and Romo Beauty, 9s to 10s.

AUSTRALIAN STOCK EXCHANGES Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright SYDNEY, August 3. The -share market was irregular. There has been a sharp rise in felt and textiles, and a sharper fall in Coles and Gordon and Gotch, but leading “ department stores held thenground. The Stock Exchange has adopted a rule that no information regarding quotations of operations in unlisted stocks, including Wool worths, shall in future be available to the Press.

_ MELBOURNE EXCHANGE. MELBOURNE, August S. Broken Hill Proprietary were active, and inclined firm on news of the strike settlement. Myttons responded to the dividend -announcement and new share issue. Other industrials are fairly quiet, but Loloma are inclined to improve. £ s. d.

AUSTRALIAN EXPORT PRICES INCREASE FOR 1936-37 A survey completed by the Commonwealth Statistician (Dr Roland Wilson) shows that export prices for 1936-37 were higher by amounts varying from 7.8 per cent, to 26.8 per cent, than they were in the previous year. Throughout the year the simple aggregative index of export prices rose steadily until May and June, when there was a .slight decline, due to a decrease in the prices of wool, wheat, metals, and hides. MINING NCTES PLACER DEVELOPMENT Placer Development Ltd. proposes to sample dumps at the Llariberris, Last Chance, and Brittania_ mines at Ballarat East. If sampling results are favourable and satisfactory arrangements are made regarding compensation, it is likely that extensive developments will follow. A sum of £20,000 will be provided to treat residues, and from 20 to 30 persons will he employed, probably for three years. PUKET TIN LTD. The directors of Puket Tin Dredging Ltd., Siam, have declared an interim dividend of 5 per_ cent., less English income tax of 5s in the £. Payment was made on July 29. This is the first distribution made by the company, which was formed in 1930.' A large shareholding in the company .was held by the Waihi Gold Mining Company Ltd. On its liquidation in 1935 shares valued at £158,333 were vested in Waihi Investments and Exploration Ltd., while the Waihi Grand Junction Gold Company Ltd. has an interest of £8,332,

AFTERNOON SALES. , £ s. d. National Bank (£10 paid) 15 6 O Union Bank 10 3 0 Colonial Sugar 47 17 6 British Tobacco ... 2 10 6 Coles 5 2 0 Dunlop Perdriau ... 1 4 0 Gqldsbrough, Mort 1 16 3 Winchcombe Carson 1 15 6 Henry Jones 2 10 9 Farmers 34 10 0 Anthony Hordern ... 0 19 14 Amalgamated Zinc 0 11 9 Stedman 0 17 3 M'Grath ' 1 19 6 Gordon and Gotch ... 2 11 9 Peters 2 14 9 Victoria Nyanza ... 0 19 9 Felt and Textiles ... 2 0 3 Mount Morgan 0 12 6 Mount Lyell 2 3 6 South Broken Hill 2 9 6 Rawang 0 12 7 Emperor 0 16 9 Peninsula Tin ... : 1 15 0 Katu Tin ... ... 1 12 6 Kramat Tin 4 10 0

Commercial Bank of Australia ... 0 18 6 National Bank (£5 paid) ... T 7 0 (£10 paid) 15 3 0 British Tobacco •...: 2 10 3 Carlton Brewery 3 7 6 Coles 5 2 0 Australian Iron and Steel (pref.) ... . ... 1 7 n Dunlop Perdriau 1 4 0 Golds!) rough, Mort 1 16 0 Henry Jones . . 2 11 3 Cox Bros. 1 1 6 Felt and Textiles ... .;. ... 2 0 3 Capel Court Investment Trust 0 5 4 Jason Investment Trust ... 0 10 6 National Reliance Investment Trust 0 13 6 ■Electrolytic Zinc. ... 2 18 3 (pref.) 2 18 9 Victoria Nyanza, .... 0 19 9 Mount Morgan ...' , 0 12 6 Mount Lyell 2 3 6 Broken Hill Proprietary ... 4 4 3 Noi'th Broken Hill 3 16 9 South Broken Hill 2 9 6 Emperor 0 16 3 Loloma , 1 3 6