FINANCIAL NOTES.
Congratulations to the Midland Bank on the proposed further extension of its borders, for, although some few years ago the " Midland " invaded the area north of the Tweed by its alliance with the Clydesdale Bank, it will now, under the proposed acquirement of the shares of the North of Scotland Bank, obtain business connections right up to the very north of the Kingdom. Congratula- tions also, however, to the shareholders of the North of Scotland Bank, for it is not often in these prosaic days that a shareholder wakes one morning to find that his shares which had been quoted for some time past in the neighbourhood of £14415, are now worth nearly £25 under the terms of the proposed fusion. Indeed, at first sight, the proposed terms of purchase seem to err on the side of generosity, but a close examination of the latest balance-sheet of the North of Scotland Bank discloses such extraordinary liquidity in the matter of assets, in the shay)... British Government securities, that it is not difficult to see that in addition to the goodwill of the concern, the purchasing bank acquires tangible assets to an extent which may well explain the terms of purchase.
While, of course, the report of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company showed a material reduction m profits, Sir Charles Grcenway was justified, in the course of his speech at the recent annual meeting, in refuting the loose talk as to alleged " colossal " losses. In a concern such as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, there has necessarily to be large expenditure at times in exploration work, and Sir Charles considered that the basis of this " talk " was largely to be found in the company's necessarily great expenditure in Argentina, and in other countries outside Persia, and also in recent capital expenditure on the fleet, &c., which was incurred when costs were exceptionally high. On the other hand, Sir Charles emphasized the strength of the present financial position, and expressed his opinion that if the whole of the assets were taken at their true value they would, at a modest computation, stand, in his opinion, " at from two to three times the figures represented in the balance sheet." A. W. K.
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