HENRY C. STEPHENS, LTD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21952, 13 May 1933, Page 17

HENRY C. STEPHENS, LTD.

•1932 A DIFFICULT YEAR NEW ZEALAND BRANCH. (From Ode Own Correspondent.) LONDON, April 6. Sir Harry Greer presided at the eighth annual general meeting of Henry C. Stephens, Ltd., at Winchester House, on April 2. He stated that the profit and loss account showed that the profit on trading, including interest, dividend, rents, etc., amounted to £82,466 6s 4d, a decrease of £lß9l, as compared with the corresponding period of 1931. Even so he thought they should all feel satisfied that they had been able to maintain their dividend and that the decrease was a relatively small one. Their profits in past years had always included bank interest upon current and deposit accounts. Their interest rates ever since their company was formed, had. been higher than they were at the present time." For 1032 the amount allowed by the banks under this heading had been almost negligible, and a good part of the small decrease could be traced to this source. Reference was made to the subsidiary company in New Zealand, which had been carrying on business throughout 1932. For the first half of the year, the chairman stated, the turnover of that company was satisfactory, but for the second half-year conditions became very much worse, with the result that their trade there suffered. In spite of the bad conditions, however, the New Zealand company was able to pay a dividend of 9 per cent., which was included in the profit figure shown in profit and loss account. The directors were glad to bs able to say that from the returns obtained from New Zealand, business there seemed to be improving, and they had every reason to hone that their New Zealand company would fare very much better this year. _ During the year under review th* An*trail an subsidiary company had made w small profit, though not enough to enable a dividend to be declared. “Nothing,” said the chairmari, “Is Included in our profit and loss account in respect of that company.. Condition* in Australia afe still very difficult, and the duties on the semi-manufactured materials which our subsidiary imports into Australia are still very heavy. We have gained a good deal of experience in the management of our Australian company, and we believe we shall be able to effect further economies in the light of that experience. Owing to _ the prohibitive duties upon our goods in Australia, we were faced with the alternative of losing our business and our goodwill altogether in that market, or setting up a works there. We chose what seemed to ns to be the best and most prudent course. READINESS TO NEGOTIATE FOR NEW LINES. “ I should like to make it clear that we are always on the look-out for lines which go with our own and can be marketed through the stationery trade; A number of manufacturers niust find the expenses of selling one particular. line are so high as to eat up all but the barest margin of profit. We can absorb new lines without appreciable increase in our selling expenses, and we are ready to negotiate with any manufacturer who has a quality line or lines which_ would go with ours and which our selling or-, ganisation can handle. “ I expect shareholders in general have become rather tired of hearing of difficult trade conditions throughout the world. It is, however, only fair to our management and our staff, both here and abroad, to say that the difficulties during 1932 have been no less than in the previous year, and it is only by means of a great deal of hard work and dose attention to the interests of the business, that we have been able to show such satisfactory results. Our export business cannot be said to have shown any real improvement, and there are still a number; of countries where, owing to the difficulty of collecting payment, it is not advisable to /continue to trade. Until the world begins to realise that the. actual solutions for safety and prosperity are not indissolubly associated with high tariff walls we cannot hope for any great improvement on the export side of our business. • . . We have faced the difficulties of the past few years with fortitude, with faith in our century-old traditions, and in the belief that we can, if necessarv, sustain a continued period of world depression. If unfortunately circumstances beyond our control make conditions increasingly difficult I am confident our shareholders will be appreciative of those difficulties, and it is my belief that we directors, and shareholders will face the future with confidence and with resolution.” The report and accounts were unanimously adopted, and the meeting closed, with ‘a hearty vote of thanks to the chairman, directors, and staff.