RICHARD THOMAS MOVES
Shareholders in Richard Thomas & Co. cannot complain of any lack of excitement. Just over a year ago they were brought face to face with a drastic scheme of reconstruction under which both preference and ordinary shareholders were asked to make big sacrifices and the financial control passed to a special committee headed by the Governor of the Bank of England. That was the price of obtaining the money necessary to carry through the building of the large-scale strip-mill plant at Ebbw Vale. At the same time Mr. John E. James, chairman of the Lancashire Steel Corporation, became deputy-chairman and Sir Charles Wright, chairman of Baldwins, Ltd., and Mr. S. R. Beale, chairman and managing director of Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds, and a director of John Lysaght, also joined the board. All in all, these arrangements seemed to provide for the rational development of the British sheet-steel trade and to ensure that there would be no unnecessary duplication of expensive plant and no " cut-throat " competition.
Now, it seems, fresh trouble has arisen. Differences of opinion mainly, I believe, on technical and trade, as distinct from financial policy, have led to the resignations of Sir Charles Wright, Mr. S. R. Beale and the finance director. Inevitably, the Governor of the Bank has had to step in between Sir William Firth and his opponents and the result is a really sweeping reorganisation of the board. Sir William Firth, hitherto chairman and managing director, is to be chairman only, which suggests that his abilities will now be concentrated mainly on the commercial and selling aspects of the business, while Mr. John E. James is to take over the duties of managing director. At the same time the Earl of Dudley, chairman of the Round Oak Steel Works, Sir James Lithgow, chairman of the Steel Company of Scotland, and Mr. A. C. Macdiarmid, chairman of Stewarts and Lloyds, become directors, and it is intimated that a whole- time Finance Director will be appointed to fill the vacancy created by Mr. Adamson.
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