COMPANY AFFAIRS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 277, 23 November 1945, Page 8

COMPANY AFFAIRS

electrolytic zinc co. lo^2i n 4% e ® se or £31 ' 917 in ne < profit vtie are Co re P° l : ted 'by the Electrolytic Zn c Co of Australasia Ltd. for the year ended June 30. Profit was struck after providing £54,000 more tor taxation at £276,000 and £lB 23s less for depreciation at £125,000 Ihrrhunged preferential and ordinart oM ld nn1 S H 7 C<?nt re quire £270,000, and £12.200 is provided for mine development. Carry forward is increased by £48,991 to £277,718. COMPANY DIVIDENDS. The directors of Hogg at d Co.. Ltd., ecommend a dividend of 5 per cent, on tile ordinary and preference share 1945 the yeal ' erded Se P tembc ‘' 30. At a meeting of directors of William Cable and Co., Ltd., it was decided to_pay ordinary shares at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum. BANKERS, TRADERS INSURANCE. The Reserve Bank advises that the holders of Barkers and Traders' Insurance Co., Ltd., shares paid to 5s a Sh n re ,'/ n bs P" ,m ilted to meet the call of 2s 6<i a share now being made by the company and payable on December 31. Shareholders having fur ds in Australia will be required to use these funds to meet the call and must apply to the Reserve Bank for the necessary authority to so use them. Shareholders not. having funds in Australia will be granted permission to remit from New Zealand to meet this call and must apply to the Reserve Bank in. the usual way for oermission to remit. The question of the facilities to be granted 1o meet the call due on June 30 will be considered prior to that date. MOSGEEL WOOLLEN CO. year under review had been >he most difficult for some time owing mainly to the reduced nunwer o. females .n our employment/' said Mr. J. S. Hislop, chairman of directors, at the annual meeting of the Mosg;ei Woollen Company. “For this reason alone our sales have dropped, and ol th.s issue 1 cannot view me immediate future with optimism, ine direc : tors are now making plans which vvu , arrest this drop h; production. The shortage oi female workers -is, oj course, not peculiar to this company, and present indications are that today's shortage will continue for some

“Taxation co. tinues to press heavily," Mr. Hislop added, "and unless some effort is made by the Government to effect a reduction the industry generally will .find dilticulty ii gearing itself up in its change-over to peacetime production. During six years of war our taxation was £279.u(X), while shareholders received in dividends £57,228." Mr. A. Ibbotson, who seconded the motion, said that taxation paid during the war years amounted to five times the return to shareholders, while provision made this year, £41,000, was more than half the trading profit. Canada, Great Britain and Australia had already given taxation relief, but no such assistance had been forthcomirg from the New Zealand Goverment. NATIONAL INSURANCE (X). An increase in net premium inconu of £29,073, for which the extension oi the field of operations abroad was primarily responsible, was commented on by Mr. G. R. Ritchie, chairman of directors, at the annual meeting of the National Insurance Company of New Zealand Ltd. Loses at £180,882 exceeded those of last year by £4321. The ratio to premiums was, however, lower, being 45.05 per cent, compared with 47.41 per cent, for 1944. Expenses, including taxation, also showed an increase of £164,257. They were higher than last year to the extent of £10,840, but the ratio to premiums, 40.9 per cent., was slightly better than former years. The total increase in gross assess amounted to £85,657. Taking into account the amount brought forward from the previous year and adding to it the profit from the year just closed, the total was £101,775. After deducting from ihat amount the interim dividend of 4d a share in May. there remained a surplus of £85,108. Of that sum the directors transferred to the investment fluctuation account the sum of £lO,OOO, and they

now recommended daymen l o£ a final dividend for the year oi 5d a share, amounting to £20,833. The directors recommended also the payment of a special peace bonus of 4d a share and the carrying forward to this year's account of the balance of £37,608. "As has been the case for some years past," Mr. Ritchie concluded, “the greater part o[ our profit has been earned outside this country. Indeed, if shareholders had to depend on New Zealand results alone for a dividend it would be a much smaller one.