Company Notes
By LOTHBURY
CAPITAL and Counties Property reports a group net profit of £445,640 for the year ending April 30, 1964, against £411,796 previously. This is after allowing for increased capitalised interest charges. The company has carried out an internal revaluation, which has revealed a surplus of £7.3 million, increasing the equity assets to around £18 million. The dividend has been increased from the equivalent of 64 per cent to 7 per cent. The 5s. shares at 8s. 9d. yield 4 per cent.
At the time of the rights issue last August, Hallmark Securities gave a breakdown of pre- tax profits for the first time, disclosing that private estate developments and property trading accounted for 40 per cent of the total. Mr. Sidney Bloch, the chairman, will (as we go to press) be reporting on this particular angle in his annual statement, as a change in legisla- tion by the new government could affect future profits. During the year ended April 30, 1964, expenditure on the property portfolio amounted to £3 million. The benefits of this are not re- flected in the past accounts. Pre-tax profits jumped from £753,440 to £800,000 and the net rose from £350,452 to £395,000. The increased dividend of 45 per cent gives the Is. shares at 6s. 101d. a 64 per cent yield.
In spite of the boycott by the anti-stamp shops on Associated British Foods wholesale and 'bakery interests, sales at £213 million jumped almost 40 per cent for the year ended March 31, 1964. Profits after tax with the help of a lower tax charge increased from £4.669 million to £5.7 million, giving a cover of 2.4 times for the recently announced dividend of 28-1 per cent (as against 25 per cent). Now that the stamp war, as far as the company is concerned, has ceased, next year's profits should show another increase. The chairman, Mr. Garfield Weston, expresses the opinion that the outlook for the food industry and particularly for ABF is bright. Another increase in the dividend to, say, 30 per cent is a possibility. The Is. shares at 7s. 6d. yield 3.8 per cent.
Excellent figures for the first six months of
• 1964 come from Dunlop. Pre-tax profits are 30 per cent up and sales '124 per cent up. It is 'hoped that the next six months' figures will be at least as good as those for the corresponding period last year. It would seem that with the con- tinued growth in the motor-car ,industry into 1965, Dunlop should not fail'to benefit. Further- more, expected tax 'concessions by the new government to big exporters will also be in, the company's favour. The interim dividend has been increased from the equivalent of 54d. (after allowing for the recent bonus issue) to 6c1. per 10s. share. This indicates a total divi- dend of at least 15 per cent against 13.7 per cent. The shares at 30s..can still be bonght,.
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