Plantation Holdings
p. 115 · Read in the full issue
profit drops
The decline in world copra prices has hit Plantation Holdings, the Rabaul copra and cocoa plantation operator which has reported a 20.9 per cent, drop in net profit in the half-year to December 31.
Profit fell from $132,044 to $104,358. Production of copra fell by 16.2 per cent, and cocoa by 15.3 per cent. Sales in the merchandising division rose by 12.5 per cent.
The interim dividend is unchanged.
Sfeamies too
Wage increases to native staff but no corresponding increase in effi ciency was one of the factors respon sible for a 26 per cent, drop in the profit made by Steamships Trading Co. Ltd. in the six months ending last December.
Directors of the Port Moresby based company described the period as one of difficult trading” with heavy increases in overheads and a considerable downturn in return from the plantations. Uncertainty about the future among some sectors of the European population was having a dampening effect on sales