BANK OF N.Z. PROFIT NEAR £400,000

Grey River Argus, 7 October 1949, Page 6

BANK OF N.Z. PROFIT NEAR £400,000

Assets Over £96 Millions P.A. WELLINGTON, October 6. A net profit of £399,980 was shown by the Bank of New Zealand for the financial year 1948-49, according to the directors’ annual report, presented to Parliament to-day.

The profit is £29,816 less than for the previous year. The gross profit, less provision for contingencies, was £2,473,798. This is an increase of £237,321. The expenses were £2,073,137, an increase of £267,137. The report states that gross profit showed a satisfactory increase, which was accounted for by a higher average level of advances, the continuing increase in the number of customers’ accounts, and by an increased volume and turnover in the bank’s business generally.

The investment income showed a reduction, due to the repayment, on maturity, of Government and local body loans. The profit and loss account showed that, after providing for the expenses of management, all bad and doubtful debts, and other contingencies, and the annual donation to the Provident Fund, the profit was £399,980, to which was added a balance of £430,976 16s 3d from last year, making £830,957 7s 6d. DIVIDENDS From this had been paid a dividend on the Preference A Shares of £46,250; an interim dividend on the C Long-Term Mortgage Shares of £6503 18s Id; an interim dividend on D Long-Term Mortgage Shares of £16,259 15s 3d; an interim dividend on the Preference B Shares of £21,875; and an interim dividend on the ordinary shares, of £131,250, making a total of £222,138 13s 4d. This left £608,818 14s 2d for distribution. The disposal recommended was a dividend on the C Mortgage Shares at 6 per cent., £7031 ss, reduced by Id for every 13id, making £26,503 18s Id; a dividend on the D Mortgage Shares at 7i per cent., totalling £17,578 2s 6d, reduced by Id for every 131 d, making £16,259 15s 3d; a dividend on the Preference B Shares (making £43,750 for the year), totalling £2'1,875; a dividend, at 3J per cent., on the ordinary shares (making £262,500 for the year, equal to 7 per cent.), totalling £131,250; thus leaving a balance pf £432,930 0s lOd to be carried forward. The dividends are to be paid in New Zealand currency. EXPENSES The main fluctuations in the expenses over the year were all upward —salaries and allowances, £61,459; general expenses, £25,131; rates and taxes, £180,30.’; total £266,987. The increase was stated to be due to the higher taxable profit; an all-round increased cosls prevailing under the conditions; and to extra expense involved in the handling of a larger volume of business. DEPOSITS The deposits, fixed and free, at the end of the financial year totalled £77,698,778, a decrease of £2,982,503. There had been a small increase in the free deposits from the public. A decrease in the total was represented in reductions in Government balances of £2,300.000; and the fixed deposits of £700,000. A steady growth of customers’ deposits in New Zealand, which continued from 1939 till the 1948-49 financial year, had checked, which was an experience common to other banks trading in New Zealand. The total assets of the bank, showing the influence of the war, with its expansion of money resulting in a growth of bank deposits, have risen from £50,707,741 in 1939, to £96,642,721.