Venturers' Corner
Whichever of our national improvement plans may have to be held back in the interests of more rapid rearmament, I do not think it will be the road programme. It is surely right to suppose that the Government will continue to push forward with road construction as an adjunct to the defence
(Continued on page 730.)
FINANCE AND INVESTMENT
(Continued from page 728.) scheme, and that, if and when disarmament becomes prac- ticable, ordinary peace-time needs will call for a further drive for bigger and better roads. Against this background specu- lative investors might consider the merits of the shares of a road materials undertaking such as the Ragusa Asphalte Paving Company. This company has just issued its accounts for 1937, which show a slight falling off in net profits from £35,172 to £33,378. Even so, earnings on the xos. shares were 24 per cent., out of which a 171 per cent. dividend is being paid, as in 1936.
These xos. shares, now quoted around 18s., yield nearly io per cent., a very generous return in relation to the indicated trading outlook and the strength of the balance-sheet. The 1937 figures show no intangible items on the assets side, cash at £15,409, general reserve at £22,500, and a rise in work- in-progress from £31,388 to £40,647, all of which should be considered with reference to the total issued capital of only £15o,000. Merely as a guide to the kind of yield basis estab- lished in happier market conditions last year, it is worth noticing that the shares reached a peak price Of 27s. 6d. I think that price was closer to a reasonable valuation of the
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