COMPANY MEETING
BRITISH SHAREHOLDERS TRUST
SATISFACTORY RESULTS THE sixteenth ordinary general meeting of the British Shareholders Trust, Ltd., was held on May ath at the registered office of the company, 3 Lombard Street, London, E.C., Sir Follett Holt, K.B.E. (the Chairman), presiding.
The Chairman said : Gentlemen' the accounts which we place before you today for approval will, I hope, be considered to show a satisfactory result of a year which, from the point of view of finance and investments, has been, one of difficulties. Japan, Spain and Germany have continued to disturb either the peace or the peaceful thoughts and wishes of the rest of the world, and consequently investors, with the added factor of increased taxation, have been called upon to face a fall in the market values of their securities. The lack of confidence that followed caused the severe restriction of new capital issues, and the march of enterprise has been arrested at least for the time being.
These were the conditions which our company, as an issuing house and a large holder of investments, had to meet in the past year, and I think they were met in all the circumstances not unsatis- factorily, for, as you will have seen in the accounts, the result was a net profit of £52,510. Our investments, which number 290, remain well spread and are in the main in companies operating in the United Kingdom or under British control. Since our books were closed there has been some improvement in quotations, which we hope will continue, and, if you approve the proposed allocation of revenue the value of our assets will exceed the capital of the trust by at least £172,787, the figure given in the report.
The company is therefore in a very sound position • it is free from any forward commitments and has ample funds for the business which it conducts. Now what we look forward to and expect is the gradual return to a feeling of confidence in the public mind, and to the resumption of the spirit of enterprise which means so much to the welfare of the country and to us all.
Whilst maintaining our dividend for the year at 71 per cent., we propose, in view of the stagnation at present ruling in financial affairs, to ask you to agree to limit the bonus to i per cent., making the total payment for the year 81 per cent., less tax. This will enable us to place £5,000 to reserve and to increase the carry- forward by about £1,7oo.
The report and accounts were unanimously adopted, and a final dividend of 41 per cent., making 71 per cent. for the year, together with a bonus of i per cent., was approved.
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