[?]Orris Hedstrom
p. 161 · Read in the full issue
Considers
Bonus Issue
yrORRIS HEDSTROM, LTD., will have to consider either a bonus issue or i increased ordinary dividend, said the airman (Mr. H. E. Snell) in June, rhe directors proposed to defer the issue itil more progress is made with the ilding programme and possibly until iding prospects are clearer.
The chairman said that the margin tween real earnings and the portion id to shareholders was very wide, rhe company, planter and merchant in |i, Tonga and Samoa, shows net profit £ F 124.625, an Increase of £14,297 (13 r cent.), for the year ended on irch 31. rhis profit is shown after larger pro ions—tax £178,403 (up £38,829) and predation £119,042 (up £50,217).
Ordinary dividend, raised from 1114 to ■4 per cent., amounts to £65,050, and per cent, preference to £13,152. fotal charge of £78,202 is £46,423 less m the profit, and carry-forward is sed to £436,834.
Earning rate is 21.4 per cent, on Unary capital, after allowing for ierence dividend.
'he directors state that trading figures 1955-56 may be smaller, ome of the reasons given for a bonus le are:
The book value of Investments in sub sidiaries is “far below actual value”.
There is probably “a very large hidden reserve” in the book valuation of
properties.
The value of stock in the books “is understated by the quite large amount which has accumulated during the last
20 years”.