Company notes
CUSTOS
Mr Edward Powell, chairman of Chloride Electrical Storage, forecasts a higher trading profit for 1968. The 1967 results were affected by the commissioning costs of. the King's Lynn plant (£340,000), which will not recur this year, and also by the development expense (£271,000) of Tricor, the group's replacement material for leather, which will again be a substantial charge.
Half-year figures from the Rank Organisa- tion show profits and sales at record levels (tIV pre-tax profit rising from £10.6 million to £14.8 million). The interim dividend rises half a point to 91- per cent. Xeros Xerox, as fore- cast, provided most of the growth, but' there was also an improvement in the results from other activities.
The market is still within an ace of the record level which it reached a fortnight ago. Hopes of peace in Vietnam, which have done so much for Wall Street, help to keep London buoyant. But if America has peace abroad, she may still not have peace at home. Fears of a heavy bill from insurance commitments in the American cities put the leaders, Commercial Union and General Accident, both Is 6d lower.
Government stocks still await the signal to move forward. The South African decision not, for the time being, to sell gold on the free market checked an improvement in gilt-edged. If shortage of supply pushes the free marks price of gold upwards again, this must be bad for sterling, and the moral has been drawn.
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