COMPANY MEETING
F. W. WOOLWORTH AND CO.
MR. W. L. STEPHENSON ON THE OUTLOOK
THE thirty-third annual ordinary general meeting of F. W. Wool- worth and Co., Ltd., was held on Friday, February 20th, at the Con- naught Rooms, Great Queen Street, London, W.C. Mr. W. L. Stephenson, the chairman, .presided. The secretary (Mr. F J. Pearl) read the notice convening the meeting and the report of the auditors. The following is an extract from the statement by the chairman which had been circulated with the report and accounts and was taken as read:—
Inasmuch as travel continues to be both inconvenient and undesirable at this time, I append such few remarks as I wish to make on the accompanying report and accounts for the year 1941, and will confine myself at the thirty-third annual meeting to the trans- action of routine business.
I do not propose to analyse in detail the figures before you: they speak for themselves. We may come at once therefore to the para- mount facts arising out of these accounts. First, the company produced a profit of £6,4o4,759 for the year 194x, a fall of £1,553,4o0 compared with the previous year. Secondly, the recommended final distribution is down by 6d. per unit. These are the things that obviously interest the stockholders in this under- taking, and I would remind them that a year ago I ventured the opinion that increased war activity would bring new difficulties and further restrictions. It has, and that is the reason for both reduced profits and lower dividend. To bring the picture into proper perspective we must realise that part of the year 1941 comprised the beginning of the third year of this
• struggle for existence and it is not surprising that those upon whom was placed the task of directing material and energies to the full pro- secution of the war should find themselves compelled to divert both labour and materials to the all-important purposes of war, and to reduce to a minimum the balance available of consumer goods for the people. Consequently, last year was a most difficult one for the retail trader. All, large or small, faced the same limitation of supplies ; all were affected by the widening of consumer rationing, further depletion of staff, contraction of selling space, &c. In our case it must be borne in mind that a number of our fine stores lie in ruins, and in others we have been called upon to surrender valuable space for the use of Government Departments. In view of all this I look upon the result of the company's trading for 1941 as most satisfactory. Substantial sums have been written off profits for the year, many of them of a nature peculiar only to war conditions.
As to the drop in the final dividend, the stockholders may reasonably
ask why not maintain the dividend at the previous level by reducing the ample carry-forward from 1940 by only Lioo,000? To this I must explain that your directors are chiefly concerned, not with the oppor- tunities of the moment, but rather with complete and effective rehabili- tation after the war. As a war-time measure we are largely precluded from expending money or labour on repairs and maintenance of buildings and plant, and consequently much of this costly work remains to be carried out after the war. We shall need our reserve resources then, hence the recommended drop in dividend. The net result of this is that we are in a position to increase the company's surplus by £275,053- The figure provided for taxation on the profits of the company for r94r at £3,557,205 is considerably lower than the provision for the previous year owing to the heavy reduction in the sum required to meet Excess Profits Tax for the year under review.
In the balance-sheet the assets remain much the same, less the write-off on properties and fixtures provided for in the profit and loss account. Stocks on hand appear higher at £4,910,589, but this includes a large amount of Purchase Tax recoverable only as the goods are sold.
LOYAL SERVICE OF THE STAFF
There has been no change in the directorate during the year. The staff, heavily denuded of seasoned help, both male and female, often called upon to do work for which they are insufficiently trained, have been wonderful, and the company owes much to their loyal and untiring efforts. I am sure you would wish me to add your apprecia- tion to that expressed by the board. As the war continues it is to be expected that there will be further
diminution in consumer supplies, causing contraction in the business of retail distribution, and this company, in common with other retailers, will have to face up to it. Our main effort will be directed towards protecting the company's goodwill and resources, with the hops that when our . people return from their service to fill their jobs again we shall have preserved the organisation so well that there will be plenty of outlet for their energies. The chairman moved : "That the directors' report and statement of accounts for the year ended December 31st, 1941, as circulated to the stockholders, be received and adopted." Mr. L. Denempont (managing director) seconded the resolution and it was carried unanimously.
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