TOBACCO PROSPERITY. T There is a solidity about _ the prosperity
of the British
American Tobacco Company which, despite magnificent divi- dends and bonuses, renders the proceedings at the annual meeting of a sober and almost commonplace character. For the most part, it seems.to be a case of frequently commenting upon uninterrupted prosperity. At the annual meeting held during .this. week Sir Hugo. Cunliffe-Owen was able to comment favourably upon the figures of the annual Report, while he stated that the business for the first three months of the current year also continued to be satisfactory. One of the shareholders who was present at the meeting, in the course of a few remarks, made some interesting comments upon the growth of the company, showing that whereas less than a dozen years ago the Ordinary capital was about £6,250,000, it has now grown to nearly £24,000,000. • No small part of this increase has, of course, come to shareholders in the shape of bonus share distributions. During the peat decade the dividends have-reached- very nearly .300 per cent.
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