Financial Notes

MARKETS STILL ACTIVE.

FROM the article which appears in another column it will be gathered that speculative activity in the Stock Markets has during the past few days centred in Rubber shares.. At the same time, there has also been a good deal of business passing elsewhere, a feature in the Mining Market being the continued strength of Diamond and Copper shares. Nor have the speculative activities exerted any injurious effect upon• the market for high-class investment securities, which has been kept firm by the cheapness of money. Trans- atlantic shares. have . naturally been quieter on the eve of the Presidential Election in the United States; though the impression has prevailed that whichever way the Election goes there is likely to be a renewal of activity in that depart- ment in the near future.

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.RHOICANA CORPORATION. . . .

That the favourable views held in the market with regard to the financial position of the Rhokana Corpora- tion are justified- would seem -to be evident fix" some of the statements made at the recent meeting of the Corporation, when Sir Auckland Geddes, the chairman, referred in particular to the company's holding of Mufulira Copper Mining shares, which were valued in -the balance- sheet at. just over £1,000,000. Sir Auckland remindekt the shareholders that there. was no Stook E:xchange quotation for Mufulira shares, but that some indication of their value might be obtained by taking a line through the shares of Rhodesian Selection Trust, which holds 5,471,200 Mufulira shares. The present market value of Rhodesian Selection Trust, Sir Auckland Geddes pointed out, gave the Rhokana holding in Mufulira a value of over £5,000,000. It would seem, therefore, that on this holding atone, quite apart from other shareholdings appearing at the nominal figure of £1, the Rhokana company has a hidden reserve of nearly £4,000,000.

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Financial Notes

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BRITISH CELANESE.

Although the Report of British Celanese Limited for the year ended June 27th last showed a moderate decrease in profits, the Directors state that the volume of the Company's products and sales showed a further increase and constituted, in fact, a new' record. Selling prices, however, were lower and the Directors maintained that were it not for a sub- stantial increase in the charge for Research and expenditure in connexion with the introduction and development of new processes, the balance of profit would have been higher than in the previous year. It should be noted that the payment during the year of three and a half years' dividends on 2,000,000 7 per cent. First Cumulative Preference Shares extinguishes all the arrears thereon, and the Directors have now declared a half-year's dividend on the 7i per cent. Participating Second Cumulative Preference Shares, payable on December 15th next.

IMPERIAL AIRWAYS PROGRESS.

The latest Annual Report of Imperial Airways shows that the revenue for the year only increased by about £3,000, but the Company received a rather smaller amount from the Government as subsidy, and the progress of the Company would appear to be satisfactory, justifying the recent slight increase in the return to the shareholders. Since the Company's formation the return to the shareholders has not • averaged much over 4 per cent., though large sums have been spent on development.

* * * * A GOOD RECOVERY.

The Report of the Birmingham Small Arms Company shims a remarkable improvement in the position ; the profit is £270,835 as compared with £112,182 in the previous year. The Directors state that this improvement has been achieved through the various normal trade activities of the group and without material assistance from the Government's Defence programme. Last year's profit is sufficient to liquidate the debit balance brought forward, to pay all the arrears of dividend on the 5 per cent. " A " Preference Stock and to leave a credit balance of £64,673 to be carried forward.

* * * * SOME BANKING CHANGES.

During the past week the announcement has been made of some interesting changes in the official positions at Barclays Bank. The announcement that the Chairman, Mr. William Favill Tuke, had tended his resignation was received with more regret than surprise as when accepting the appointment some two years ago Mr. Tuke made it clear that by reason of advancing years he would only be prepared to hold the position for a brief period. Regret with regard to Mr. Tuke's retirement was, moreover, tempered by satis- faction that he had consented to remain a member of the Board. For many years now Barclays Bank has been fortu- nate in its Chairmen, and following his two able predecessors, the late Mr. F. C. Goodenough and Mr. Tuke, Mr. Edwin Fisher now succeeds to the Chairmanship with Mr. W. M. Goodenough as Deputy-Chairman. Mr. Fisher's fitness for

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Financial Notes

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this new position is recognised throughout the City, where his great abilities have long been recognised. The fact that Mr. William Macnamara Goodenough has been chosen as Deputy-Chairman has also given pleadure in the City, and not least by reason of the association of the name of Good- enough with Barclays Bank, for the new Deputy-Chairman is the son of the late Mr. F. C. Goodenough, who for so many