Company Notes
THE Earl of Derby, chairman of TWW, the independent Television contractors for South Wales and the West of England, advises excellent results for the past year. Net profits (reported in February) after tax were up from £548,815 to £662,341 and the dividend from the equivalent of 731 per cent. to 110 per cent., which is covered one and a half times. In spite of this, the 2s. 6d. (non-voting) ordinary shares are still around 26s. 6d. to yield 101 per cent. This is an excellent return for a company with growth prospects which, in the area where they operate, have greater potentialities than other TV com- panies. The chairman discloses that the company has a 50 per cent. interest in a television relay company-Wire Vision, which is expanding its services. The future looks bright for TWW with plenty of room for expansion and diversi- fication, with net current assets of £1.1 million, including £565,000 in cash.
The results of Vine Products for 1960 have certainly come up to the optimistic forecast made by the directors last November. The trading profit is up from £988,269 to a record £1,139,511 and after allowing for depreciation and taxation the net profit comes out at £508,906, which is 84 per cent. higher than the previous year. The dividend is being increased to a total of 231 per cent., which, after allowing for the one-for-two scrip issue last year, compares with 184 per cent. for 1959. This company, as makers of VP wines and 'Britvic' soft drinks, should be able to continue to increase sales and profits, so that there is still scope in the Ss. ordinary shares, with the dividend more than twice covered. These shares, at 25s. 6d., yield 41 per cent.
Sir Nutcombe Hume, chairman of Associated Books, in his recent statement concerning the company's affairs, concluded by saying that the group should do well in 1961, but as the profit for 1960 is expected to be at least as high as that for 1959, it is unlikely that there will be any increase in the dividend of 10 per cent. paid last year. At 54s. the £1 ordinary shares yield as little as 3.6 per cent. and this is hardly enough for a share whose growth prospects are not apparent. The reason for the price of the shares and the chairman's statement is the recent offer by Mr. Howard Samuel of 50s. for the LI shares, which was not acceptable- no reason was given by the chairman. It is known that the subsidiaries, Methuen and Co. and also Eyre and Spottiswoode (Publishers), are doing well, but Chapman and Hall lost the business of John Wiley and Son Inc. of New York, which will mean reduced profits from this source in 1961. It does seem without any further infor- mation from the directors that the price of the shares is now high enough.
Mr. J. K. Mickie, chairman of National and Grindlays Bank Limited, says in his report that the principal event in 1960 is not reflected in the balance sheet. This was the acquisition of the Eastern Business of Lloyds Bank, which has added nineteen branches to the organisation. This means an increase of £18,816,333 in the total consolidated balance sheet. The net profit, at £479,276, was £74,568 higher than the pre- vious year. There is a growing demand for finance in the territories in which the bank operates, which has resulted in an increase of advances of about £19 million. The chairman states that there is a better climate for banking which seems likely to continue, subject to neces- sary reservations in respect of East and Central Africa and Burma. Consequently the second in- terim dividend for 1960 has been increased from 64 per cent. to 7 per cent., making the total payment for the year 131 per cent. There is an assurance from the chairman that this rate of dividend will be consolidated at 14 per cent. on the increased capital for the current year. The 15s. ordinary shares at 35s. 6d. give in- vestors an attractive opportunity to acquire an interest in a soundly based overseas bank share to yield around 6 per cent.
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