COMPANY AFFAIRS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 243, 13 October 1937, Page 11

COMPANY AFFAIRS

TOLEDO-BERKEL (AUSTR.), LTD. A net profit of £6211 is reported by Toledo-Berkel (Australia), Ltd., for the year ended September 30, compared with £3BlO in 1935-36. The 8 per cent, preference dividend requires £l2OO, and the dividend on preferred ordinary shares is raised from 5 per cent, to 8 per cent., and requires £4844. In the balance-sheet of the operating company, Toledo-Berkel Pty., Ltd., sundry debtors and bills receivable have increased from £66.057 to £72,360, and stock on hand from £36,349 to £39,823. Outside liabilities are much the same as they were last year. WALDAS SHOES PROSPECTS “Waldas Shoes, Ltd., is sound today, and when conditions become normal it will again earn profits, ’ said the chairman of the company (Mr. W. S. Williams) at the annual meeting in Melbourne. “Its record during the year has not been bad, but rather, when all the exceptional circumstances are considered, has been very good.”

The profit for the year was comparable with that of previous years, Mr. Williams continued, because the conditions under which the company had operated had been different from 1930 to 1936. The cost of production had been either constant or falling, but in October last there had begun a rise in production costs, including a rise in the cost of raw materials. Moreover, keen competition in Melbourne and Sydney had prevented the company passing on these higher costs. Attempts to arrive at an understanding with other firms to eliminate pricecutting had proved unavailing. At the invitation of the chairman the meeting decided to form a committee of two shareholders or representatives of shareholders to confer with the board and the auditors on the affairs of the company. Mr. G. W. Spry and Mr. W. G. Norman were appointed for the purpose. DRUG HOUSES OF AUSTRALIA The accounts of Drug Houses of Australia, Ltd., and its six subsidiaries, for the year ended June 30, show that £174,520 was earned as profit for the parent company, compared with £171,030 the previous year and £141,890 in 1934-35. This is the best result since the company was formed in 1930 to amalgamate six leading wholesale drug businesses. The dividend of 6i per cent., an increase of one-half of one per cent on the previous year’s distribution, requires £158,590. The latest profit is equivalent to 7.2 per cent, on the paid-up capital of £2,439,910.