FINANCIAL NOTES
VICKERS
IT is a fitting commentary on current affairs that these notes should begin this week with an examination of Vickers' balance sheet—not that the examination will reveal any secrets of British rearmament. It shows us merely that some of those units which handle a large volume of armament orders are handling much more than they have done for many years This is doubtless offset by recession in some sections of the company's ordinary peace-time engineering business and the net result is that Vickers have brought into account a total profit differing comparatively slightly from the 1937 figure. Had they wished to squeeze all the profit they could from the subsidiary companies, Vickers could doubtless have show n larger figure.
Trading profit for 1938 was some £45,000 lower
£1,975,6o8, but owing to the relief obtained by the redemption of the 5f per cent. Debenture stock in 1937 and the prern.um
then charged on redemption, the net profit was some £47.100 better at £1,398,853. The dividend for the year is ro per cent, again, and the contribution to contingencies accounr is maintained at Lioo,000, while the addition to general reserve is slightly lower, at £35o,000, against £400,000, balance of £321,760 to go forward against ,C237,534 brought .n. The really striking feature in the accounts is the expans. +11 of the wholly-owned subsidiary Vickers-Arrnstrongs, wh-ce work in progress has jumped from £14,025,301 to £24,721,6 h.• That subsidiary's net profit rose from L867,540 to and it paid over to the parent company on account of p■-"- (Continued on page 512)
FINANCIAL NOTES
(Continued from page 510)
ferznce dividends £1,096,191, against 063,171. Part of the Vickers-Armstrongs expansion is doubtless due to the com- pany's having taken over from Vickers the aviation works of the group.
Previous page
