The eleventh annual general meeting of shareholders in the Ziangbe Rubber Ca., Ld., was held on Monday afternoon at the offices of Messrs. J. A. Wattie & Ca., secretaries and general managers, Mr. A. J. Welch presiding.
In the course of his speech the Chairman said:—The planted area of the estates remains the same as last year, but had it not been for the restriction placed upon the output of rubber during the concluding months of the year the area in bearing on Bandoe Ardjo Estate would have been increased by 218 acres.
Thinning out continued on both the estates during the year and a total of 26,892 trees were removed. The visiting agent reports that the effect of the thinning out that has already been done has been most beneficial to the trees, which are now practically "free from all disease.
Owing to the continued state of acute depression in the rubber market restriction of output is still in force, but every effort is being made by those in charge of the estates to reduce expenditure to the absolute minimum compatible with efficiency and I hope that, in spite of the smaller harvests that we expect for 1921, the cost for the year will show a material' reduction on the 1920 figures.
Loss pye to Depression.
Turning to the accounts you will see that the working "account shows a loss of Guilders 23,435.57, as compared with a profit last year of Guilders 554,520. This disappointing result is entirely attributable to the acute depression in the rubber market and the resultant extremely low value placed upon the unsold stock of rubber at the end of the year.
This stock which amounted to 530,054 lb. was, for the purposes of the accounts, valued at 30 cents per pound, or, say, six pence. Every penny per pound that the stock realizes over this price will reduce the loss by Guilders 26,500.
The profit and loss account shows a loss of Guilders 80,755.38 but this includes the agency fees, selling commission and interest paid to the Shanghai company; eliminating these items the net loss on the year's working is Guilders 36,847.59.
Capital expenditure during the year amounted to only f.19,702.41, the bulk of which was for new buildings and new machinery, details of which are given in the report.
As regards the financial position of the company you wil] see from the balance sheet that at the end of the year the liquid assets of the Dutch company exceeded the cash liabilities by Guilders 90,389.79, or, say. the equivalent of Tls. 48,000; in the Shanghai company's accounts the liabilities exceed the assets by Taels 6,846.18 so that the net result is that' the company started the new year with a surplus of liquid 000, a large portion of which, however, is represented by unsold stocks of rubber.
There were no questions, and the formal resolutions were adopted.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.