COMPANY MEETING
ALLIED BAKERIES
INCREASE OF CAPITAL APPROVED
THE fourth annual general meeting of Allied Bakeries, Limited, was held on July 20th at Winchester House, London, E.C.
Mr. W. Garfield Weston, the chairman, said that their company had been built up by the acquisition of strong independent busi- nesses throughout the country At the beginning of the last financial year t8 operating bakery companies were controlled.
The directors at that stage had decided to consolidate within the existing framework and to extend and speed up the programme of modernisation and re-equipment of baltzries. Over £17o,000 had been spent during the past year, and there were contracts in hand to the value of approximately L272,000.
The fundamental idea was to improve the quality of bread and to give customers goods of quality at a reasonable price, together with attractive and reliable service.
When the operating companies ended their year on April 1st the directors had been able to .report an increase in profits of over k too,000, and were satisfied that they were again in a position to extend the activities of the company. Negotiations for the acquisition of the entire ordinary share capital of Weston Foods, Limited, were successfully completed, and their company had thereby acquired the controlling interest in a group of four modern biscuit factories and six other companies operating in the bread and confectionery business. The scope of the company's operations had thereby been widened. It was his experience that the industry as a whole was inherently stable and he had never yet encountered a period during which both the bread and biscuit industries had been severely depressed at one and the same time. Though the figure of goodwill might appear to be high, it repre- sented less than three years' earnings
The Government Department responsible for food supply in the event of war had welcomed the cooperation of their company in the preparation of plans for the maintenance of bread supplies should a national emergency arise. The geographical layout of the company's organisation did, he believed, make it practically invulnerable, and, in the event of hostilities, it should be a great national asset.
The report and accounts were unanimously adopted, and at the subsequent extraordinary general meeting the proposed increase in the capital of the company was unanimously approved.
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