HARR1SONS AND CROSFIELD.
This week's meeting of Harrisons and Crosfield, Limited, was notable for a lucid explanation by Mr. H. Eric Miller, the • chairman, of the circumstances in which the special dividend rights of the company's deferred shares are being terminated. These shares have always given holders the right to apply for additional deferred shares at par to the amount of any excess of their total annual dividend over to per cent. Since the deferred shares have generally stood at a relatively high market price this option has provided an apparent bonus, and has generally been considered valuable. The unissued deferred capital available, however, has been practically exhausted by the continued exercise of this option, and the directors, as announced in the company's annual report, do not propose to continue the arrangement.
Mr. Miller showed at the meeting what the directors, who hold the management shares carrying similar rights to those of the deferred, were equally reducing their own dividend- subscription rights. He also demonstrated very clearly that, despite the emphasis often placed on the advantages of these rights by the Stock Exchange and the investing public, the benefit to be derived from them was largely illusory.
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