Capital expenditure during. the year amounted to Tls. 49,488.13, the bulk of which was expended' apon the upkeep of Bukit Sembilan' Estate, We are. still: faced. with considerable further capital expenditure, estimated. to, amount to! 8 total of 8,870,000 for the proper equipment of Bukit Sembilan Estate land for the renovation of some of the buildings and machinery. on Bukit Toh Along "Estate." The! necessary. work is being taken in hand and expenditure will spread over the next two or three! ars.
The area under rubber on the two estates is 2,608.5 acres and some of you perhaps do not realize how very small the capital of Bukit Toh Along Rubber Estates isin relation to ite planted acreage. The capital cost works out at just under Tls. 192 per acre and at to"day's market price for the shares it only just over Tls. 352 per acre.
The estimated output for the current year is 650,000 Ib. which represents 13 Ib. of rubber for every tael of issued capital. In other words every penny per pound received for our product in excess of the cost of production, means a profit to the company. of approximately four per cent, on the Par value of the shares, made in the report now before you, the company will start the New Year with a surplus of Tiquid assets amounting to Tls. 21,270.06 and it is because this surplus is so small and also is not all represented by actual cash that -your Directors have not felt justified in recommending the payment of even a small dividend.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.