COMPANY MEETING
ROLLS RAZOR LIMITED
THE twelfth annual general meeting of Rolls Razor Limited was held on April 15th at 255-289, Cricklewood Broadway, London.
Colonel Sir Thomas A. Poison, K.B.E., C.M.G. (the chairman), said that the profit and loss account disclosed a trading profit of £88,489, an increase of £28,781 over last year, and the net profit had increased by £26,195 to £78,235. That gratifying increase had been arrived at after charging against revenue nearly t.,2,200 additional depreciation and after writing-off all expenditure on air- raid precautions, which had been considerable.
At their last meeting he mentioned the fact that their managing director, Mr. Kingham, had been to America in February, 1938, and had completely reorganised their subsidiary company in that country, Rolls Razor Inc. The result of that visit had been that, whereas in the two preceding years losses had been incurred, the company had made an excellent recovery and had contributed to the profits of the year under review.
INCREASED DEMAND The demand for their razors continued to increase and since November of last year they had been unable to produce as many as they could have sold, despite every effort to keep pace with it. Their " Viceroy " Non-Electric Dry Shaver had been an outstand- ing success, and up to the present they had been selling all that they had manufactured. He had informed them last year that the work they had been doing for some time for the Government was only just beginning to bear fruit. While that work had, of neces- sity, increased, the margin of profit had been relatively small. At each of their last two annual meetings he had referred to their ability to stand up to the world-wide unrest. In the present balance-sheet four months were during the war period, and they had conclusive evidence which confirmed the optimism he had expressed at those meetings. They did not attribute their additional earnings to the international situation ; in fact, they believed profits had been little affected by the war. That and their past record of profits pointed to the steadiness of their business. Adding to the net profit the balance from the previous year, they had a total of £82,212, out of which they had to provide for taxa- tion £32,000, which was k15,000 more than in the previous year, but it was their share of the heavy burden which all classes were cheerfully bearing to meet the cost of prosecuting the war. They were paying a final dividend on the preferred ordinary shares at the rate of 71 per cent. actual, making 15 per cent. for the year, and a dividend of 8o per cent. on the deferred shares, and trans- ferring £to,000 to general reserve. The report was unanimously adopted.
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