FINANCIAL NOTES
HOME AND COLONIAL GROUP'S RECOVERY.
THE substantial rise in profits shown by Home and Colonial Stores and its associated companies is more than could have been expected from the cautious statement of the chairman, Sir George Schuster, a year ago. He explained then that the plans started at the end of 1935 for improving the com- pany's trading must take at least three years, and that it might be necessary to draw upon the Dividend Equalisation Reserve to pay the 15 per cent. cumulative ordinary dividend. Actually, the group has done much better than that ; Home and Colonial have not paid an ordinary dividend, but they have maintained the cumulative ordinary payment without drawing upon either (Continued on page 494.) .FINANCIAL NOTES (Continued from page 492.)
the balance brought in or the Equalisation Reserve. This table illustrates the group's growth of profits in 1937
1936.
1937.
iikme and Colonial .. .. 138,898 .. 231,740 - Lipton, Ltd... .. 24,794 • •
38,403
Maypole Dairy 268,028 .. 346,946 Meadow Dairy 121,031 .. 139,340 So far it has been largely a matter of-ploughing back the increased earnings and of stopping the drain on accumulated funds. For example, Home and Colonial in 1936 withdrew £68,353 from their undivided balance ; in 1937 they put back £3,541, bringing it up to £188,931. Meadow Dairy has maintained its dividend and increased its undivided balance by £2,716 to £39,022. But Maypole. Dairy has raised its deferred dividend from 5 per cent. to 7 per cent. in addition to increasing the balance carried forward by £27,713. Lipton, Ltd. earned and distributed a profit of £38,403 against the 1936 profit of £24,749. All the com- panies report increased turnover and their recovery augurs well for the Unilever combine, especially when taken in con- junction with the fact that the United Africa Company, another important unit of the Unilever group, has raised its profit by £400,695 to £2,127,412 and its dividend from to per cent. to II per cent.
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