COMPANY NOTES
KEY FLATS' are very well-known proper- ties to flat-dwellers in London, and arc owned and ably managed by London County Freehold and Leasehold Properties. The chair- man and managing director, Mr. T. J. Cullen, presents an excellent report to shareholders for the year ended March 31, 1960. Consolidated revenue, before tax, increased fronl £1,231,197 to £1,400,956. The net revenue balance was £585,345. The dividend on the increased capital is even better than expected, being a total of Is. Id. (against 10d.) on the 10s. stock units and absorbs a total of £505,631. The balance carried forward is again a healthy one at £350,019. With the accounts details are made available of a new debenture issue of £31 million to take care of the recent purchase of industrial properties, which are let to companies of high repute. The chair- man advises that little or no income was received from these investments for the year to March 31, 1960; but a substantial amount will be received during the current year and the benefit of a full year's income will accrue to March, 1962. These remarks also apply to the income from the com- pany's Rhodesia properties, where a beautiful block (the highest in the Federation) has been built and will be completed and fully let by November. With such excellent prospects in view for an increasing revenue the company's progres- sive profit and dividend record is likely to be maintained. This is a rewarding investment and one of the leaders in the property market; the 10s. shares at 26s. 3d. xd. yield 4.1 per cent. on the 10.8 per cent. dividend.
Smith's Potato Crisps needs no introduction on behalf of its products and has become well known to prudent investors. The year to March 31, 1960, was a record: the net profit (after tax) exceeded £1 million (for the first time in the
company's. history) at £1,010,831. Last year a scrip issue was made and the issued capital was further increased by an issue of 259,351 5s. ordinary shares in respect of the acquisition of Tudor Food Products Ltd. In spite of this the directors •are making a further scrip issue of one in five ordinary shares and have stepped up the dividend to 55 per cent., which includes a 10 per cent. bonus. The liquid resources of the Company are exceedingly strong and exceed the Present issued ordinary capital of £1,042,885, Which would suggest further bonus possibilities. The company now has twenty-three factories and eight depots, including their interests in Australia and Holland. The chairman, Mr. F. le Neve- Poster, does not comment on the company's future prospects in his statement. but there is obviously plenty of scope for further improve- Tent in profits and dividends (the last was 2.2 tunes covered) as the price of the 5s. ordinary shares at 100s. 6d. indicates; the yield is only 2.7 per cent. The report for the year to March.31, 1960, of Walker Cain, the Liverpool brewers, is not in- formative, but doubtless the chairman, the Rt. Hon. Lord Brocket, will give shareholders a good account of the company's affairs at the annual general meeting. However, there has been a very satisfactory increase in the trading profit of the group at £1,414,557 against £1,331,488, the after- tax profit being £791,965 against £745,537. The company is continuing to modernise many of its properties—undoubtedly worth while in the highly industrialised area in which it operates. The brewery at Warrington is an extremely up-to-date unit. The £1 ordinary shares at 69s. xd. yield 4.7 per cent. on the 17 per cent. dividend.
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