21 JANUARY 1928, Page 32

In the course of his remarliS at the annual meeting,

held- last Monday, of the British-American Tobacco Company, the Chairman, Sir Hugo Cunliffe-Owen,gave a very interesting - summary of the growth in the prosperity of this great indus- trial concern. For the first year of the company's existence there. via a jilt rTrofit of £140,000 6i1 a cliPital'Of 16,000,000. To-day the issued capital is nearly £28,000,000 while the profit- has expanded to 1.6,500,000. These figures, the Chairman Maintained, resulted from a very small margin of profit on a very large volume of business. Referring to the rumours of a Tobacco War" Sir Hugo stated that during the thirty' years he had been connected with the company he had had- frequent experiences Of such threatened competition, but he could assure the shareholders there- was no reason to be disturbed by the threats.

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