HUGE TOBACCO PROFITS.
But for the fact that I should have to plead guilty of plagiarism, I should be heading this paragraph " A Cigarette Maker's Romance," for it is a case where that headline exactly describes the extraordinary measure of good fortune which has attended the holders of the Ordinary Shares of Carreras, Limited, the well-known tobacco manufacturers. Moreover, the rise in the fortunes of this concern is the more noteworthy inasmuch as it is not included, in any of the great tobacco combines. Thanks, hoviever, to its well-known brands, and dmibtless to good management and organization, the rise in profits; and consequently in share values, has been alrmsst unprecedented. Something like five years ago the profits of the company were under £50,000, whereas for the year ending October 31st last they exceeded £1,000,000, the shareholders receiving a dividend of 50 per cent. in cash and a further capital bonus of 50 per cent., this distribution, moreover, being free or tax. During these same few years the £1 shares have risen from about 17s. to £17, so that when allowance is made for bonuses in the shape of increased holdings of shares, it may be said that the market value of five years ago has been multiplied about fifty times. The pleasant part of the story is that it concerns a British industry. It seems well, perhaps, to emphasize that point lest the reader should imagine that it is another case of record profits in the United States
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