Company Notes
ponths's, the holiday-camp group. produces excellent accounts for the year to March 31, 1962, with pre-tax profits of £368,398 against £141,136. These include for the first time a proportion of the profits from recent ac- acquisitions of Dolphin Holiday Camps (Devon), Jersey Jubilee Camps and Squires Gate Black- pool Holiday Camp. The chairman, Mr. F. W. Pontin, who is very expansion-minded, deals ftilly in his reports with the many improvements that have been carried ont and his plans for further developments. A rights issue of 1,958,406 Is shares at 12s. each provided the company with considerable finance for improvements and for the elimination of the bank overdraft of £125,000. It is now proposed that the issued capital be increased by £1 million to £21 .mil- lion, which will give the company plenty of money for plans which the chairman may have for the future. He predicts substantially higher profits for the current year, which gives hope for an increase in the dividend of 35 per cent. Holiday camps and their shares are popular favourites. Pontin's 2s. shares at 2is. 3d. yielding 3.3 per cent. are no exception.
Misfortunes in the shape of lower sisal prices and five months of rains and • floods overtook East African Sisal Plantations. The accounts for the year to June 30, 1962, show a trading profit of £17,541 against £41,994 but the net result was a loss of £12,728 against the previous year's net profit of £10,837. It was planned to plant 700 acres of sisal during the year, but it was only possible to plant seventy acres owing to the very had weather. But the chairman, Mr. G. K. S. Doyle, hopes that there are better times ahead. The price of No. 1 sisal is up, and so far the weather is normal. There is no dividend this year, but there seems a fair chance of one next year. The 10s. shares at 5s. are a fair speculation.
A. Wilson's Stores (Holdings) suffered this year, like other fashion houses and clothing stores, from the exceptionally bad spring and credit restrictions. The preliminary statement in September made it quite clear that the full re- port would not be good. This now reveals that pre-tax profits for the year to June 30, 1962, fell from £350,624 to £198,709, which reduced earnings from 38 per cent. to 18.6 per cent, and necessitated passing the final dividend and leaving the 12+ per cent. interim as the total payment for the year. The chairman, Mr. J. M. Tilling, reports that considerable reorganisation has been going on within the group. The un- profitable sections, London Town Dresses and Castle Belt and Button, were disposed of last July, since when other businesses earning profits have been acquired. These are Scoti-Centenaire, Kashmoor, Louis Speelinan and George Pren- sham. He is confident that these will prove a valuable asset and that under the new managing directorship of Mr. Louis Speelman the group will in time obtain considerable benefit. It does seem therefore that the 2s. shares at 4s. 714. yielding 5.4 per cent. now have a promising look about them.
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