• THE TOBACCO TRADE.
At the annual meeting of Carreras Limited, Sir Louis Baron gave shareholders a very intimate review of the position of the tobacco industry both at home and abroad, and while he did not disguise the fact that the last twelve months had brought fresh problems, he looked forward to the future with hope and optimism. The profits shown in the annual report were lower, but Sir Louis said that the gross profit had been as high as in the previous year, the reduction in the net figure being due to abnormal selling and advertising costs -necessitated - through the general depression and intensive competition, but for which the net profit figures would have been up to or above those of the previous year. The shareholders might rest assured, he said, that in this trying period the aim of the Board was not so much to show outstanding and immediate results as to preserve unimpaired the strength of the business by using all possible means and resources to maintain the - quality and turnover of the company's brands and to keep their merits prominently before the smoking .public. . As to the tobacco tax, this,- undoubtedly, was an extra burden, and so far as cigarettes had been concerned it had been borne entirely by the manufacturers. They hoped that this extra duty would be one of the first to be removed when the finances of the .eountry began to recover, but the directors were, never- theless, hopeful that through the development of still more efficient methods of working and every possible economy in expenditure only part of the amount of the duty would reflect
itself in the next year's results. A. W. W.
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