Company Notes
By LOTHBURY
A SUBSTANTIAL rise in dealing profits and addi- tional income received from two acquisitions made last year are mainly responsible for the big increase in pre-tax profits from London Shop Property Trust. These for the year ended April 30, 1964, were £558,113 against £299,724. The dividend has been increased from I I+ per cent to
• 13 per cent. All properties (with one exception) reported a year ago as being developed are now completed and are substantially let. There are now seventeen projects in hand, of which ten are expected to be completed this year. Ample finance has been arranged for future develop- Ments and all intangible assets have now been eliminated from the balance sheet. Rental in- come will show a steady increase over the next few years and under their able chairman, Sir Cyril Black, shareholders should be able to look • forward to increasing dividends. The 5s. shares at I Is. 6d. yield 5.8 per cent.
Crystalate, the compression and injection moulders in plastics, has greatly increased its profits for the year ended March 31, 1964. The pre-tax profit of £121,004 compares with £48,628. , Earnings have more than doubled at 29.4 per cent to cover the proposed dividend of 15 per cent as against 124 per cent paid for several :Years. A one-for-five scrip issue is to be paid and the chairman, Mr. Jack Lesser, forecasts being able to maintain the 15 per cent dividend on the larger capital. The company's largest sub- sidiary, British Homophone, manufacturers of gramophone records; is responsible for the major part of the group's profits. A revaluation of Properties now increases the net asset value of the Is. shares to 2s. 6d., the present price; yield- ing 7.2 per cent, the shares look attractive.
Mr. W: A. Royce, chairman of Norvic, the manufacturers and retailers of boots and shoes, gives shareholders an encouraging report for the future, especially in regard to the com- pany's overseas interests. The group now owns 187 retail shops in the UK and on the manufac- turing side has started an expansion programme in building a new factory at Heathside, Norwich, where 30,000 pairs of shoes are being produced per week. After last year's poor results, when the dividend was maintained at 15 per cent, net profits for the year ended June 30, 1964, were £313,222 against £97,010 and the dividend was raised to 164 per cent. The company is greatly interested in the amazing leather substitute Corfam, for, as the chairman states, 'although there is nothing like leather, it is an unpredictable product and therefore a nightmare to the pro- duction engineer.' The 5s. shares at 12s. 6d., yield- ing 6.6 per cent, look a good investment.
Vatton Furniture has produced disappointing results for the year ending April 30, 1964, par- ticularly as last March the chairman, Mr. Donald Bussell, forecast profits would be up at least 50 per cent for the current year. Actually, pre-tax profits have only increased by 28 per cent to £92,552. Reorganisation, which is still in- complete, has been the trouble. However, losses by the Avalon subsidiary have now stopped and the company is now in far better financial shape. The Is. shares at Is. 9d. yield 4.6 per cent, not a good enough yield on this class of share.
Previous page
