22 DECEMBER 1928, Page 30

has to be reported, an announcement having been made during

the week to the effect that Vickers, Vickers-Armstrongs and Gunmen Laird and Co. had concluded agreements under which important working arrangements are contemplated. One of these agreements, to which all three firms are parties, provides for the amalgamation of the whole of their steel interests, with the exception of those concerned with guns and armoured cars, &e. A new company, to be called the English Steel Corporation Limited, will be formed for taking over these steel interests. In addition, a further agreement, to which Vickers and Cammell Laird are parties, provides for the amalgamation of all the railway carriage and wagon interests of the two companies. This merging of interests must, no doubt, be regarded as a further development of the operation of some months ago when it will be remembered that a great part of the interests of Vickers and of Armstrong Whitworth were definitely fused through the formation of a new company, entitled Vickers-Armstrongs, Limited, with an authorized capital of £18,000,000.

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