Company Notes
By LOTHBUR Y.
PHE switch by smokers from plain to tipped cigarettes goes on and in this field Carreras leads the way. In face of keen competition from Imperial Tobacco's gift-coupon tipped brand 'Embassy' and, the recent introduction by Gallaher of 'Cadet' tipped and 'Senior Service' tipped, Carreras seems to be holding its own. The company is particularly well established in London and the South-East, where 45 per cent of its sales are 'tipped.' Mr. J. H. Hansard, the chairman, admits that competition is intensi- fying. However, the group reports a 25 per cent increase in profits for the year ended June' 30, 1963, and for the third successive year an in- crease in the ordinary dividend at 131 per cent against 11 per cent in 1962 and 9 per cent in 1961. The trading profit increased from £3.192 million to £3.973 million. Carreras achieved record exports in 1962/63 and is ex- panding its very modern factory at Basildon. The 2s. 6d. ordinary shares at 6s. yield 51 per cent on the dividend more than twice covered by earnings. Imperial Tobacco yields 6.9 per cent, but Carreras are still a good share to buy.
The growth of Capital and Counties Property continues under the chairmanship of Mr. Leslie Marler. He states that the company owns properties sufficient to cover...developments• over the next ten years, one of which is the Knights- bridge Green development, amounting to £20 million. For the first time in the company's history it is carrying out a development over- seas of a 100-acre estate in Bermuda. The company's policy of building up a widely based organisation to provide accommodation for a cross-section of the community will not, in the chairman's opinion, be adversely affected by any change of government. The net profit after tax for the year to April 30, 1963, was £413,000 an increase of £61,000. The dividend is raised from 18 per cent to 20 per cent on the larger capital. A two-for-one scrip issue is now pro- posed. The 5s. ordinary 'shares yield only 2.8 per cent at 35s 3d., but have great possibilities.
In 1961 Hallmark Securities, with the aid of finance from the Sun Life Assurance Society, entered the commercial property development market. In this it has done well. The gross rental income from new projects is expected to in- crease by at least £100,0D0 in. the current year. Since the payment of the interim dividend of 331 per cent the capital has been increased, and on this enlarged capital a final dividend of 20 per cent is proposed for the year ended April 30, 1963, making in all the equivalent of 36.9 per cent. The chairman, Mr. Sidney Bloch, has forecast a dividend of 40 per cent for 1963/64 (it could be more) so that the ls. ordin- ary shares at 7s. 6d. yielding 5.2 per cent have prospects for appreciation.
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