Company Notes
MR. W. E. fluruN, chairman of Butlin's Limited, gave shareholders, last week, a colourful picture of past and future events. For the past, for the first time in the history of the company the gross revenue of the group exceeded £8 million. For the future, he is not inclined to take over other camp sites but rather to build new ones, designed by his own experts to meet the demand wherever it may be. There is every reason to believe that Mr. Butlin, a master show- man, is giving the holiday campers what they want—better fare at a fair price. There are over 100 holiday camps in Great Britain, and Butlin's provide accommodation for about half the num- ber of all holiday campers. The new camp at Bognor Regis, opened last year, will contribute larger profits this year, whilst the Irish camp is expected to bring in not less than £400,000 this year as against £309,000 last year. The pre-tax profit for 1960 at £1,785,625 was a record and the chairman expects that this figure will be exceeded in 1961. The net profit after tax was £932,523, from which an interim dividend of 25 per cent, was paid and a final of 55 per cent, has been declared on the slightly increased capital. The Is. ordinary shares at I Is. ex the one- for-one scrip issue would give a return of 3.8 per cent. on an assumed dividend of 40 per cent., which may well be increased.
The chairman of Emu Wool, Mr. Neville Blond, refers to the 1961-62 outlook as favour- able, although there has been little change in the trading results for the year ending March 31, 1961. The company, since its recent expansion, has spent large sums on advertising its knitting wools, `Sammy' scarves and `Slimma' slacks and skirts, also `Activity' underwear for men. This expenditure should benefit future sales, but has decreased the company's liquid resources. This position will no doubt be improved, as a 5 Per cent, increase in the dividend suggests that the board have confidence in the future. The net profit after tax was £152,349, providing earnings of 49.7 per cent, for the 25 per cent. dividend. The 5s. ordinary shares at I7s. 6d. look attractive to yield 7.1 per cent.
London County Freehold and Leasehold Properties has always been looked upon as one of the `blue chips' in the property market. The company, well known for its 'key flats,' now owns over 9,000 flats and is expanding its portfolio to include commercial properties. The value of property in the balance sheet is shown as £21.7 million, an increase of £3.4 million, and undoub- tedly, as the chairman, Mr. T J. Cullen, said last year, the revenues will continue to improve and will be reflected in the next accounts. Pre-tax profits of £1,402,289 have been arrived at after writing off from this year's income all the estab-• lishment expenses of the Rhothstan company formed five years ago and of the Australian com- pany formed last November. The net revenue balance of £664,266 compares with £585,345. The increase in profits tax to 15 per cent, will cost the company about £40,000 more this year, but even so the chairman looks for another increase in income which should make possible another step-up in the dividend. Two interims of 3d. and 30. have been paid, and a final dk idend of 8d. is proposed; this equals a rate of 12.1 per cent. The 10s. ordinary shares at 31s. 6d, give an above-
the-average return of 3.8 per cent. for properly shares and can be confidently expected, once again, to increase their dividend next year—an attractive investment.
The two manufacturing subsidiaries of the Enstock Trust are the Ayling Industrial Group and Klinger Manufacturing. Ayling controls Hambling Industries, Lintott Engineering and Mills Brothers—all general engineering com- panies, Crawley Industrial Products—mining machinery manufacturers, and Bribond Limited, electronics and nucleonics. The Ayling group has increased its profits and made a capital profit of £40,000 on the sale of its Croydon factory. Klinger manufactures hosiery and knitwear and now has a machine-building division for the pro- duction of high-speed yarn-processing machines, which are creating a big demand. Increased divi- dends have been received from these companies and there has been an improvement in income from other investments. These are classified in the report and at March 31, 1961, had a book
THE SPECTATOR, JULY 21, 196 value (including Klinger) of £773,677. The 0 profit after tax amounted to £56,470 E18 £47,355. The 2s. ordinary shares at 4s. yield'
! per cent.
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