ASSOCIATED PORTLAND CEMENT
INADEQUATE PRICES
THE forty-sixth ordinary general meeting of the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers, Limited, will be held on December 12th in London.
The following is an extract from the statement of the chairman, Sir P. Malcolm Stewart, Bt., 0.B.E., Hon. LL.D., D.L., circulated with the accounts:—
The profit on trading was less by £239,263, due to the fall in the tonnage of cement delivered and to the reduction in the perm:tted margin of profit. The sharp decline in the trading profits and the drop of 21 per cent, on the dividend from our holding of B.P.C.M., Limited, ordinary stock has been largely offset by the increased returns from investments and from our overseas subsidiary companies. The profit and loss account shows a total profit of £539,617, a reduction of £7,124 on 1943. The proposed dividend is to per cent, on the ordinary stock. This leaves a balance of £2,117 to add to the amount carried forward, which now stands at £230,888.
INCREASE IN COSTS.
That the modest increase of price of cement in the home market does not reasonably reflect the heavy additional cost of production will be realised when it is stated that whilst the net home trade selling price for 1944 was 34 per cent. above the same period of 1939, the relative increased cost of labour per ton of cement produced was 83 per cent, and that of electric power 87 per cent., whilst the price of coal at the works was up by no less than 94 per cent.
The high cost of building construction is rightly a cause for anxiety. Those materials least responsible for high costs are cement and bricks. Our actual average net price per ton of cement received by us from the home trade consumer in 1944 was 34 per cent, over that received in 1939. The margin of profit per ton was less by 62 per cent. Our statement to the Minister of Works, when early in the war voluntary control of the industry was arranged, that we did not wish to profit by the war hardly justifies this drastic reduction. It is disconcerting to find that our correct attitude is now being used to impose terms which do not in many cases leave a reasonable margin of profit on home trade cement deliveries.
It is not possible with confidence to forecast improved results for the current year However, we look for an increase of deliveries in 1946 and an improvement in trading results.
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