THE RIO TINTO MEETING.
When allowance is made for the' fact that the average price if standard copper last year was £58 Os. 8d. per ton compared with nearly £62 in the preceding year and 197 125. 4d. in 1920, the financial statement which Sir Auckland Geddes had to lay before the shareholders of the Rio Tinto Company at the recent meeting must be regarded as a very satisfactory one. He was able to announce that the company had paid off 5,000,000 pesetas of the Spanish 6 per cent. Loan, leaving only 10,000,000 pesetas outstanding, while the company's eserve has now been raised to no less than 11,000,000. With regard to the future, Sir Auckland explained that for the first two months of the year conditions were still adversely fleeted by the after-effects of the Coal Strike, and now onditions are being somewhat disturbed by the fluctuations n the value of the --peseta. On the whole, Sir Auckland's attitude with regard to the future was one of restrained nptimism. He said : "I feel that I am justified in asking or a certain quality of patience from our shareholders, and understanding of the changed conditions which we and her Spanish pyrites producers will have to face this year 'hough the appreciation Of the peseta and the continued illness of copper prices."
Previous page
