BOOTS DRUG ACCOUNTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 189, 13 August 1940, Page 3

BOOTS DRUG ACCOUNTS

The accounts o£ Boots Pure Drug for the year to March 31, 1940, shows that, after provision for taxation, fees and contributions to the staff pension fund, the company earned a record trading profit of £975,120, a figure which exceeds the previous record, in 1936-37, by £14,179. The fact that the net profit figure does not also exceed the 1937 level is due mainly to an increase in allocations to repairs, renewals and depreciation from £168,276 to £194,364. After payment of preference dividends, the sum earned for the ordinary shares amounted to £685,717, compared with £679,542 for 193839 and the maintained gross distribution of 30.9 per cent, on the ordinary capital was covered by earnings equivalent to 42.8 per cent. After bringing in £248,724 from the previous year, and placing £281,765 to special reserves, the balance carried forward amounts to £199,711. The current ...ice of 36s 3d for the 5s ordinary shares provides a yield of £4 5s 3d per cent. This must be reckoned a low return, even for so meritorious a share, and the market is still inclined to lament the absence of the longawaited scrip bonus, now postponed for the duration of the war.