COMPANY BALANCE SHEETS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22269, 23 May 1934, Page 12

COMPANY BALANCE SHEETS

THE COLONIAL SUGAR REFINING COMPANY, LIMITED.

Paid-up capital: March, 1919, to September, 1920, £3,250,000; March, 1921, to September, 1923, £2,600,000; March, 1924, to March, 1927, £4,875,000; September, 1927, to March, 1934, £5,850,000.

* One year’s trading, t Including benefit funds.

It is gathered from the chairman’s speech at the recent meeting of shareholders that climatic conditions have not been entirely favourable for sugar crop, but the half-yearly net profit comes out at the record figure of £495,389, which continues the decided upward trend of the past few seasons. The usual distribution of 25s per share absorbs roughly threefourths of the not surplus, so that onefourth approximately is left to add to reserves. Adverse weather conditions appear to have been confined to Fiji, as the sugar output from Australia seems to have been abnonnally large. How far the revenue of the company has been , swelled the published accounts do not disclose, but a net profit larger bV £27,277 has succeeded one which showed a rise of £45,989, and ;is it may be assumed that, after the increased charges due to the handling of a larger crop had been met (provisions and allowances for contingencies would lie on a generous scale), the revenue may have increased to a greater extent than the net profit would indicate. The only information divulged regarding the manner in which the net profit has been arrived at is that depreciation and other charges have been provided for out of the profits made from the work of the factories and from other investments. As usual at the close of the March half-year, sundry creditors are large. Their figure of £1,545,546 is practically twice that at September, 1933, the cash group on the other side having risen in sympathy. In a total of such dimensions there is room for considerable diversity in composition. The suspense accounts group at £3,220,288 continues its steady upward movement. As its , trend is definitely upward, the assumption is that it does not wholly consist of liabilities, and that to some extent it is offset by relative assets. The growth in reserves is general. Reserve fund for the third consecutive six months lias been raised by £IOO,OOO, and stands at £1,375,000. Replacement and depreciation fund at £2,995,421 is larger by over £40,000. In seven years this fund has doubled, while the fixed assets have increased concurrently in a much smaller proportion. The floating balance, now £400,548, is equivalent to an average half-year’s profit. Apparently there have been some claims upon the employees’ provident fund, which is reduced to £38,566, while the employees’ benefit society at £19,373 is little altered.

Liquid assets aggregate £8,682,912 more than half the total assets. The cash group at £3,467,045, which forms the largest unit, is confronted by the formidable total of sundry creditors. The sundry debtors’ group, which includes investments, will bo the repository of such funds as represent reserves placed outside the business. The fluctuation in the total of £2,756,886 is probably chiefly attributable to the sundry debtors’ section. Stocks of sugar and balances due for payments for the Queensland Government are up to £2,150,964, which is still somewhat under their amount at closing dates. The larger part presumably refers to stocks of sugar, and the extent of the half-yearly turnover may be conjectured when a net profit of nearly £500,000 is coupled with a stock running into seven figures. ‘ Stocks of material remain fairly consistent at £308,017. The tendency of the fixed assets is to diminish. Two of the smaller units—office premises and ocean steamers —at £56,011 and £142,118 respectively are unaltered. Provision for their depreciation may have been credited to replacement and depreciation fund. Refineries (£2,990,579) and distillery (£134,181) are virtually unchanged. As these assets mainly comprise buildings, machinery, and plant, they must suffer considerable depreciation, which doubtless also ia met by additions to the replacement and depreciation fund, It is in sugar mills that the heaviest deterioration might be expected, and both the Australian and Fiiian groups are down. In Australia mills and their adjuncts fluctuate in book value from time to time, but at £2,414,196 they /are under their figure of six years ago, from which it would seem that no great extension has taken place in_ the interval. In the same way, the Fijian mills group has not varied much, their net amount, after allowing for the writing down by £1,625,000, being £1,390,369, or greater by some £40,000 during the same period. Fixed assets aggregate £7,127,454, which shows a reduction of over £IIO,OOO. Their relation, to the liquid assets, whose March total_ is usually high, has fallen considerably since the previous accounts were published, and, after allowing for, the customary fluctuations, the inclination is for the liquid section to increase. SHARE VALUES RECENT PRICE MOVEMENTS. The following table shows the price movements of the latest shares, together with the index number. The basis of the index is: July, 1930, equals 100: —

Dividend & Bonus. Half-year Net Per Ter ended Reserves. Profit. share. annum. Mar., 1919 £ 1,592,854 £ 147,611 s. IT P.C. Sep., 1919 1,010,052 130,012 13 l\ Mar., 1920 1,090,468 359,533 17 Si Sep., 1920 1,015,870 171,642 17 , 8 Mar., 1922 1,938,080 245,990 20 Sep., 1922 2,034,791 247,195 20 12 •Mar., 1924 2,339,617 073,639 45 12 13-16 Sep.. 1921 2,438,207 324,978 20 10 Mar., 1920 2,999,550 396,104 25 12 Sep., 1920 3,140,930 408,444 25 12 Mar., 1928 2,807,151 490,112 25 12 Sep., 1928 2,942,014 409,157 25 12? Star., 1990 3,082,329 445,337 25 J2> Sep., 1930 3,737,738 350,720 25 12 Mar., 1931 3,959,903 384,097 25 12 Sep., 1931 4,070,087 373,812 . 25 32 Mar., 1932 4,312,720 370.509 25 12 Sep., 1932 4,428,095 370,291 25 12 Mar., 1933 4,495,039 422,123 25 12 Sop., 1933 4,058,793 468,112 25 12 Mar., 1931 4,828,907 495,389 25 12a

Stock. May 10. £ s. d. May 17. £ s. d. Index. A’aslas .. .. 12 4 3 12 0 0 98.0 Commercials .. 0 16 10 0 16 10 80.1 Cora. Sydney . 17 IS 0 17 10 0 87.5 15., S., and A. 5 9 0 5 8 0 80.4 Nat. A’asia .. 6 8 0 6 9 0 88.9 Nat. N.Z. 4 0 0 4 2 6 08.7 15k. of N.S.W. 3k 0 0 32 7 6 89.2 Bank of N'.Z. 3 12 0 2 11 G 91.8 Unions .. .. 9 19 6 10 .1 0 89.4 Dalgetys 10 6 0 10 5 0 97.C Goldsbroughs.. 1 13 2 1 12 0 116.3 Tooths .. .. 2 4 4 2 4 9 149.1 Tooheys 1 9 9 1 9 9 132.1 N.Z. Breweries 2 2 3 o 2 0 84.0 Mount Lyeils.. 1 3 3 X 2 9 99.0 Zinc Ord. 1 6 4 1 6 4 131.7 Zinc. Pref. .. 1 13 6 1 13 2 142.0 Brit. Tobs. .. t 17 3 1 17 3 99.3 Col. Sugars .. Average 61 0 0 105.1 Cl 0 0 104.8 160.0