Company Notes
THE BRITISH WAGON CO. LTD. suf- fered a 25 per cent. decline in profits for 1961, due to the reduced sale of motor vehicles arid the 7 per cent. (later 6 per cent.) Bank rate. However, the chair- man, Mr. R. A. Dyson, gives shareholders some comfort for the future, in that the deferred in- come is up by about 10 per cent.; but business for the first two months of 1962 is well below the corresponding period of 1961. The directors are therefore prudent in cutting the final divi- dend by 29 per cent. to 5 per cent., making a
total of 10 per cent. for the year. The group profit fell from £429,432 to £322,461, resulting in a net profit after tax of £161,547 against £226,835. This well-managed company is not in agreement with the recent increased dealers' concession rates announced by the United Dominions Trust. The company and its sub- sidiaries—British Railway Traffic and Electric Co. Ltd., B. W. Trade Facilities Ltd., Road Rolling Ltd., B. W. Credit Corporation (Dublin); British Acceptance Corporation (Vancouver) and British Wagon (Australia)--should continue to do a steady and profitable business. The £I shares at 55s., yielding 3.6 per cent., suggest confidence in the management and future pros- pects.
The National Mutual Life Assurance Society had a most successful year in 1961; new life business at approximately £66.8 million was about double the average of recent years. This included an unusually high proportion of 'without profits' policies. The Society also received the excep- tionally large sum of about £3 million in con- sideration for immediate new annuities, at a
time when interest rates were very high and th money could be satisfactorily invested. Last year was not an easy one for the investment of funds, but the National Mutual earned £6 per cent. on the Life Assurance Fund, which now amounts to just over £20 million and has appreciated by £1 million during 1961—a very good achievement, The chairman, Mr. Kenneth A. E. Moore, re- ports that the Society is now offering policies for pension purposes which are especially attrac- tive to the younger business executives who start' with little or no capital behind them. These should have a wide appeal.
Mr. A. R. Mitton, the new chairman of Abraham's Publicity Holdings Ltd., reports a modest increase in the profits for 1961 after the setback in 1960; the trading profit increased to £94,137 from £85,892. It is encouraging to note that there is an increase in unexpired con- tracts at the end of the year amounting to £1,677,970. The future outlook appears to be more promising, so that the 2s. shares at 4s. 3d. on the dividend of 22 per cent. give a return of over 10 per cent.
Previous page
