Courtaulds Capital Needs Since the raising of the dividend to
111
r cent. Courtaulds £1 ordinary units have een,a disappointing market. Profit-taking has brought them back from 51s. 6d. to 48s. 9d., at which the yield is £4 12s. 6d. per cent.—a good return on- a first-class indus- trial equity. I see nothing in Sir John Hanbury-Williams's annual statement to suggest any need to revise my view of the units as an under-valued investment. He reminds stockholders of the dynamic quali- ties of the company, of the immense strength of the assets position, and drops a hint that the board would like to see the issued capital brought more closely into line with the total resources employed. A scrip bonus is there- fore on the cards and should come along as part of a larger plan for raising new money , —to supplement the company's large liquid resources—to meet the cost of fresh expan- sion projects. Here, indeed, is a ".growth
• situation " which implies that the ordinary stockholders, who shoulder the risks of the business, should find their investment a pro- gresfive one. The 111 per cent. dividend is being paid out of earnings of 25 per cent., calculated on a most conservative basis.
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