SHAW, SAVILL LINE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21994, 1 July 1933, Page 15

SHAW, SAVILL LINE

SHARE ACQUISITION FURNESS, WITHY EXPANSION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, May 26. An official hnnounceriient in, the foI» lowing terms has been issued under the heading of Shaw, Savill and Albion Company, Limited. Furness, Withy and Co., Limited, and their associated company, ■ the British Maritime Trust, have acquired a tubstantial share interest in the above company, and Mr John Macmillan has resigned the chairmanship in favour of Lord Essendon, but Mr Macmillan will continue as managing director. The following additional directors have been elected:—Brigadier-general Sir Arthur Maxwell, M r Walter Curry Warwick, and Mr John William Watts. Lord Essendon is also chairman of the recently constituted company, 1 the Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line, Limited, of which Shaw, Savill and , Albion Company, Limited, are managers and Mr John Macmillan is managing director. Furness, Withy and Co. was formed in 1891 and has an issued capital of £7,500,000. The combined tonnage oi! Heels owned by the company, its seven subsidiary shippipg companies and Houlder Line is about 430,000 gross tons. Shaw, Savill and Albion was registered in 1882. It has an authorised capital of £700,000 and owns 22 vessels aggregating 237,048 gross registered tonnage. A new issue of capital was made recently, and it is believed that the new shares are the subject of the deal, ‘ It is gathered that the interest now acquired by Furness, Withy group amounts to about one-third of the present total of £300,000 in “ B ” ordinary £5 shares, - and that a substantial price has been paid. The White Star Line holds 21,592 “B” ordinary shares of Shaw, Savill, for which it ' paid £910,820, and the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, a White Star subsidiary, owns 17,313 “ B ” shares. British Maritime Trust has an issued capital of £1,000,000. It was registered in 1888. Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line was formed last month with a capital of £500,000 to acquire six vessels comprising the Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line. The capital was jointly subscribed by the P. and O. and Shaw, Savill groups. Brigadier-general Sir A. Maxwell, a managing partner of Glyn Mills and Co., bankers, is a director of various companies in the Royal Mail Steam Packet group and of the Union Bank of Australia. . Mr Warwick is chairman or director of 25 “ Furness ” and other companies, and Mr Watts is a director of Shaw, Savill, and Albion and 'White Star Line.

BETTER SERVICES. "Apart from the avoidance of duplication thus made possible,” comments the Financial Times, "the new arrangements should enable substantial reduction in management costs, the employment of ships for the most suitable purposes regardless of the action of competitors, and the scrapping of obsolete tonnage—in short, rationalisation in the best meaning of that long word. The new association of interests should, therefore, result in better shipping services between the United Kingdom and the southern dominions. Indeed, the Shaw. Savill Company, which controls a fleet of 22 large vessels employed in the regular liner services, ha« lately ordered two motor vessels to engage in the frozen meat and similar trades. The fact that the predominant partner, Furness, Withy, raised fresh capital a couple of years ago in order to be able to take advantage of opportunities for expansion as they arose, suggests that the Australian and Ne\y Zealand trades will be particularly well looked after in the future. Is it too much to hope that the Commonwealth Government and people may feel inclined to reconsider, as a gesture of Imperial reciprocity, some of the restrictions which are imposed under their maritime laws? ’’ . Immediately following the anouncement, the Furness, Withy ordinary shares roe® 10Ad to 19s lo|d. Lord Essendon now increased his directorships to 34. Most of the companies are connected with shipping, and of 23 he is chairman.

NEW DEPARTURE. The Daily Mail comments: “8o far as Furness, Withy, and Go. is concerned', the importance of its acquisition lies in the fact that it will become interested in a section of'the British shipping industry in which it has not hitherto participated—the Australian and New' Zealand trade.”