The annual general meeting of the Shanghai Waterworks Ca., Ld., was held on Tuesday afternoon at the ethices of the company, No. 69 Kiangse Road. Mr. L. J. Cubitt presided, and the following are the min points of his speech The result of the year's working may be considered satisfactory, but revenue in 1919 benefitted by the incidence of the intercalary moon.
The nett decrease in the total ex. penditure is almost entirely accounted for by the one item of coal, which in 1918 was responsible for an increase of Tls. 90,000. The decrease is partly due to the Kailan Mining Administration having voluntarily made a substantial reduction on a contract during its currency, which I take this oppor. tunity of acknowledging.
As set forth in the report the nett profit for the year was Tls. 389,003.40 which, added to the sum of Tls. 55,642.10 and less Tls. 86,250 distributed by way of interim dividend, leaves a balance of Tls. 385,485.50, which the Directors recommend be dealt with as follows Tis.
To pay a fina; dividend for the yea. 1919 on 25,000 shares of 30j- per stare £34,500 at exch. 7/- 8 To pay a bonus on 23,000 shares cof 2/- per share £25,000 at exch. 7/- 65, To place to stocks reserve fund 15, Yo place to reserve fund 100, ae To donate to King's Fund for Disabled Soldiers, £1,000 at exch. 7/04 2,848.66 Carry forward to new a/e 76,351.13
Tis, 358,485.50
The total dividend for the yea-, you will observe, is £2-10 against £28 in recent years, and the bonus £1 against 2/6 for 1918 and 10/- for 1917—making a total return of £3.10 per share against £2.10.6 and £2.18 respectively. As the factor of exchange enters so largely into the amount of sterling available for distribution from year to year, the board continues its policy of maintaining or slightly increasing the dividend and allowing the somewhat violent fluctuations due to exchange to be reflected in the bonus only.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.