Venturers' Corner
The comparative firmness of wool, while copper, tin and rubber are floundering in depression, is very impressive. It is also a Heaven-sent blessing to Australia whose purchasing power is so closely bound up with the price of wool in the world's markets. At the moment Australia is able to spend freely and all the indices of internal trade point to unparalleled prosperity which should spell good times for the merchanting companies such as D. & W. Murray. Some months ago I emphasised the merits of this company's preference shares and these have now been sub-divided, under the terms of a reconstruction scheme, into preferences and ordinaries. It is the new 5s. ordinaries which I now regard as attractive, purely as a speculation.
Dividends have been started with a payment of 3 per cent., so that at the current price of 2s. 6d. a buyer starts off on a reasonable yield basis of 5 per cent. But conditions are improving, and I shall be surprised if the accounts for the year ending July 19, 1938, do not show a further recovery. There is one good reason, quite apart from this company's own trading, why the dividend should be increased, namely, the company's investment in the preference shares of an associated undertaking, Goode, Durrant & Murray. Last year's accounts profits did not include any payment from these preferences, but this year at least one year's dividend should help to swell the revenue. It therefore seems reasonable to budget on 4 or 5 per cent. on D. & W. Murray ordinaries, in which event they should be worth something more than their
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