Company Notes
By LOTHBURY
AN extract from the annual report of Mr. Harry Oppenheimer. chairman of Nehanga Consolidated Copper . Mines, was given in our last issue. Three significant points emerged. The heavy decline in pre-tax profits from £20.8 mil- lion to £17.5 million was due to the increase of 15 per cent in the restriction of sales, but had this not been done the company would have had to add to its already heavy stocks of copper. The high yield on the shares suggests that the outlook for this great Rhodesian copper mine is by no means assured, but it should be possible to maintain the dividend of 7s. on the LI shares. The company still has heavy capital commit-
ments and in this respect it is reassuring to know that the new government of Rhodesia has de- clared it has no intention of interfering with private capital 'investment or of nationalising industry. The shares at 50s. yielding 14 per cent are, of course, speculative and can only appeal to those investors who are prepared to take a risk.
The managing director of Calor Consolidated Properties has waived his salary for the past year and the directors have not charged the company any interest on their loans which now amount to £24,000. There is also a bank over- draft of £67,000—Pre-tax profits were up from £25,801 to £32,566. The dividend has been raised from 74 per cent to 10 per cent; the latter payment was not fully earned. Now the directors make an optimistic statement • that at least 12-1- per cent will be paid for the .year ending March 31, 1964: That may be so, but the com- pany' obviously needs new finance to provide working capital for its recent acquisitions of shop and office property and to liquidate the loan •position. One of the directors, Mr. J. W. Watts, has been granted an option on 500,000 2s. ordinary shares at 2s. 9d. each during this Year. If he exercises it then the cover for the dividend will be further reduced. The 2s. shares at 4s. have considerable hurdles to surmount to justify their price.
Group profits for the year ended March 31,
1963, from Joseph Webb and Co. at £104,402 have exceeded the forecast of not lesS than £78,000. The trading profit of £118.464 corn- Pares with £76,693. for the previous year. The dividend is increased from 20 per cent to 25 per cent. The company is a housing, factory and shop property developer, and has two par- ticularly interesting projects in hand at Newquay and Burnham-on-Sea offering holiday accommo- dation, both of which should contribute to•profits next year. The company is growing in an interesting field of development and with fur- ther consolidation should do well. The Is. shares at 4s. 6d. yield-5.3 per cent.
For the year ending November 30, 1963,
Ladies Pride Outerwear is maintaining the in- terim dividend at 5 per cent on the capital increased by a one-for-live scrip issue. The com- hany's three factories are working to ',capacity. The chairman is confident' of making up the dividend to 25 per cent by a final payment in January. This is encouraging news from a coot-. Pany Operating in a highly competitive field. The 4s, ordinary shares arc around 20s.
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