COMPANY MEETING
SIR ISAAC' PITMAN AND SONS, LTD.
AN ENCOURAGING YEAR THE forty-ninth annual general meeting of Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Limited, was held in London on September 14th. Mr. I. J. Pitman, M.P., the chairman, reported a most satisfactory year's working. The net profit was £34,964 after provision of £6o,000 for taxation. The publishing, printing and tuitional divisions of the business had all contributed satis- factorily. The two subsidiaries (Book Centre, Limited. and Simpkin Marshall, 1941, Limited) had yielded no profits. They were co-operative undertakings for the book trade as a whole ; but their growing strength was a great satisfaction to all concerned and provided a distribution service increasingly economical both to the trade and the public.
' EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
The company was alive to the implications of new developments in the educational world and was doing its utmost to ensure that the firm retained the leading position as " purposive " publishers which it had hitherto held. They were striving to produce text-books attuned to the , spirit of the new schools that would grow from the Butler Act. They realised the need to maintain for their colleges the high reputation and the :onstantly growing patronage they had earned in the past. They were preparing to meet the newly established conditions and would continue to provide the high quality of purposive education for which they already held a national reputation.
BALANCE-SHEET ITEMS
The company's• trade investments were increased by the purchase of 4o per cent. of the ordinary share capital of Methuen's, Limited, the well- known general publishers. The chairman hoped that this would prove
• to be both a steady asset and a reciprocally beneficial connection. Pitman's, Limited, were " purposive " rather than recreational publishers. Their activities among authors, teachers and booksellers within their special field of " purposive " publishing would provide scope in the wider field covered by Methuen's.
Dealing with the profit and loss account and balance-sheet, the chair- man pointed out that the trading profit was reduced to £35,000 by increas- ing the reserve for deferred repairs by £15,50o before striking the balance, while £4o,000 had been transferred to the reserve for the Bath Educational nil Community Fund.
PENAL TAXATION
The chairman regretted that the high rate of taxation in recent years ad so much frustrated the firm's efforts to ensure the well-being of the staff. There was a strong case for allowing surplus profits to go without enal taxation to the development of business and staff funds. With 70,000 provided last year and £6o,000 this year, the third which the • taff had foregone through taxation was more than £40,000.
Big profits were, however, no measure of the true health of the business. In their own case especially they relied upon the character of their staff for the assurance they had of the continuing strength of the firm. Many of these had been for years in association with the founder of the business, it Isaac Pitman, and maintained his character. Their loyal and effective ork was ensuring the success of the business even in these difficult days transition, when materials were unobtainable, worn-out machines could of be replaced, teachers were too few to meet the demands for tuition, and acing labour was insufficient even to catch up on orders for books !ready overdue.
Their American publishing house was prospering and he hoped soon to it become at least as important in its field as the parent company. The report and accounts were adopted.
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