COMPANY NOTES
By CUSTOS
*
The excitement over the TRINIDAD OIL deal has died down but has left oil shares considerably higher on balance. The clos- ing date for the take-over at 80s. 3d. is August 30; and the Shares stand at 74s. 6d. The opposition of the Beaverbrook press to a sell-out of British control to American interests was, strangely enough, never heard when the American Gulf Oil bought con- trol (59 per cent.) recently of the important Canadian oil company BRITISH AMERICAN OIL. This was a much more significant affair involving over $200 million. A merger of the Canadian Gulf Oil, a subsidiary of Gulf Oil, was part of the deal and British American Oil now becomes the second largest integrated oil company in Canada— second only to Imperial Oil (subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey). As a `growth' stock British American Oil has already been an ,outstanding investment and this merger broadens and gilds its future prospects. Its yield at $764 London is under 24 per cent. on the basis of present dividends of $1 per share, but the price is still 12 points below that of Imperial Oil, which is also paying dividends of $1 per share.
A strange market operation this week might engage the attention of the Stock Exchange Council. The 5s. shares of a new company called NORCOS were placed privately at 5s. lid. There was nothing very exciting about its prospects—it supplies iron ore to steel companies—but when dealings started on Monday there was heavy buying and the price rocketed to 15s. 3d., closing at 14s. 6d. It goes to show how unsatisfac- tory `private placings' can be. When almost every other industrial share was falling, what can explain this mad rush?
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