PROSPEROUS TOBACCO INDUSTRY.
There seems to be no limit to the profits from the great tobacco combines, though it is only fair to say that, so far as may be judged, the profits are due as much to sound and efficient management as to the maintenance of price through the combinations. During last week the Report has been published of the Imperial Tobacco Company (Great Britain and Ireland), and a huge net profit is shown of £9,224,000, a result which exceeds the previous year by £259,431. After providing £250,000 for pensions, a 'further amount of £500,000 is placed to the General Reserve, bringing that Fund up to £7,000,000, and after paying a dividend and bonus totalling 25 per cent. free of tax, for the year, against 24 per cent. for the previous year, the sum carried forward is £959,000, as compared with £821,000 a year ago. The balance-sheet, too, is an excellent one, investments increasing by about £900,000, while the total of cash is 14,422,000, against £4,012,000 a year ago. In their reports the Directors usually make little comment upon the inwardness of the figures in the balanee- sheet, but at the annual meeting the statements are usually of an interesting and informative character.
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