Sir George's
pp. 106-107 · Read in the full issue
come-back
By a staff reporter
It could have been sentiment which led Sir George Proud, then managing director of the well known Australian jewellery firm of Prouds, to set up a subsidiary in Fiji more than 10 years ago to take advantage of its new duty free status. He had plenty of links with Fiji as his wife was born there (she is the daughter of the late Sir Walter Carpenter), and he passed through the place many times on overseas business visits.
But Sir George is a businessman, and he considered Fiji’s decision to go “duty free” in selected luxury items opened business opportunities. Prouds of Fiji was formed and opened shop at Lautoka, Nadi and Sigatoka, and more will follow with the develop ment of tourist and holiday home complexes.
One of these could be at Natadola, south-east from Nadi, where tourist consultants suggested in a survey there could eventually be 14 hotels.
Sir George considers the prospects are bright. There could be 800,000 visitors a year in the 1980’s. They will come from much further afield than the traditional areas of Aust ralia, New Zealand and North Ame rica. Japan and Europe were likely to be good sources of tourists. He does not think the development of tourism will spoil Fiji—rather it will give employment to thousands of lo cal people.
The Proud shops in Fiji are backed by a newly formed wholesale com pany —Prouds Wholesale (Pacific Islands) Ltd which holds about 30 important agencies. This subsidiary supplies the retail trade in Fiji with jewellery, high grade cosmetics, etc, and also supplies retail outlets, main ly for tourists in New Caledonia, the BSIP, Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Is lands and Tahiti. The manager is Mr Harry Le Vesconte, formerely Chief Fire Officer in the Suva Fire Brigade.
Prouds of Fiji Ltd, was acquired from the L. J. Hooker group, Aust ralian real estate firm and developer, on July 1, 1972. Hookers, through a takeover, secured control of all Proud interests some years ago. Sir George, although remaining as managing director, did not agree with the sales and marketing policies, and was not slow to say so. Eventually he stopped going to board meetings, and recently resigned.
Speaking about the Hooker atti tude to Fiji, Sir George said: “They did not want to carry on because the return on the investment was not in line with their view of an investment
return. I told them they should retain it for future development”.
Sir George then, on behalf of a family company, Nyora Ltd, was able to buy the Fiji enterprise. Plans are now to carry on there as Prouds did in Australia before the Hooker take over-selling quality goods. The directors of the firm are all closely associated with the Proud family.
Asked about his attitude to local interests buying into Prouds of Fiji, Sir George said: “We would be most happy to let local capital come when we get up to a certain point of de velopment.” „ , , , Sir George lives in Sydney, but makes frequent visits to Fiji. He con siders he spends about four or five months a year there. He may even make his home there for he has a block of land in a commanding posi tion on Tamavua Heights. And Fiji born Lady Proud is in the process of getting back her Fiji citizenship.
Carpenters make
$8 million profit
W. R. Carpenter (Holdings) Ltd, subsidiaries based in Fiji and Papua New Guinea, earned $3,119,000 of the company’s net profit of $8,112,000 in the year ended June 30. In Aust ralia and other areas the net profit was $4,993,000. The Fiji-based subsi diary, W. R. Carpenter (South Pacific) Ltd covers Fiji, Tonga and Western Samoa.
The directors reported that the South Pacific group had a turnover of SFS6 million in 1972-73, an in crease of 16 per cent compared with the previous year. The biggest factor in the increase was a 35 per cent rise in automotive and tractor sales.
General merchandise sales increased by about 9 per cent, and industrial division sales by about 8 per cent.
In Papua New Guinea general merchandise sales rose by 3.2 per cent, and profits from merchandise trading showed an improvement oyer 1971-72. But profits in the automotive division were down, although the value of sales rose by 4.2 per cent.
Production of copra and cocoa from the Carpenter plantations in PNG was severely affected by drought.
Drought in the early part of the year also retarded production of green leaf tea. But there was still a considerable increase in made tea from 820,000 kgs in 1971-72 to 1,193,000 kgs in 1972-73. Profitability was adversely affected by the general decline in world prices for tea, and by currency changes. Coffee produc tion increased from 231,000 kg in 1971-72 to 269,000 kg in 1972-73.