WHITTOME STEVENSON CO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20991, 30 September 1931, Page 5

WHITTOME STEVENSON CO.

NO FINAL DIVIDEND. INVESTMENTS WRITTEN DOWN. No final dividend is being paid by Whittome, Stevenson and Company, Limited, condimentors, which paid an interim dividend of 3 per cent, in March, t At the annual meeting of shareholders on Monday the directors stated that although there was a trading profit of over £3OOO, they did not feel justified in making any recommendation for a final payment for the half-year ended June 30, deeming it wiser to place their investment account on a thoroughly sound basis in accord with altered circumstances. To that end £7OO had been written off the investment account,. Two years' depreciation on buildings, as allowed by the Income Tax Department, had also been written off- at £770. After those provisions, and also allowance for income tax had been made, there remained £63 to be carried forward. In addressing shareholders, the chairman of directors, Mr. C. Robinson, said he regretted having to inform shareholders that business had shown _ a decline during the past year. This was wholly attributable to the diminished purchasing power of the general public as a, result of the wages cut and the great amount of unemployment existent. The company's products .had been maintained at former standards, and they had not lost business as a result of trading competition. Coincident, with the fall in gross profits expenses had been considerably curtailed, with the result that net returns were better than might have been expected. The company paid 8 per cent. last year and 174 per cent, in the previous year.