FINANCIAL NOTES
THE RECONSTRUCTION OF VICKERS.
THE proposal of the directors of Vickers to write down the ordinary shares of the company from £1 to 6s. 8d., thereby cancelling over £8,000,000 of capital, has come as a surprise Not that a reconstruction of some kind was unexpected, but for so drastic and complete a scheme to have been prepared with great thoroughness by an expert committee without one word of its imminence having leaked out is in itself a great tribute to all coal cerned with it—not least to the company's officialS who must have known what was going on. The total amount to be written off the company's assets is nearly £12,500,000, the balance of this sum over and above the reduction of the capital being provided out of -existing reserves and the credit balance of profit and loss account This sum:suffices" to write down book values of land, buildings, book debts, investments and interests in subsidiaries to approximate present values, and to leave more than £2,250,000 available as a reserve against contingent and other liabilities which are expected to accrue.
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