Turning now to the accounts, I will deal with those of Djarangan first.
The profit for the year, as shown by the Working Account, was F. 12,833.84 as compared with F. 38,- 316.39 last year. This poor result is attributable to the smaller crop harvested and to the low prices that prevailed throughout the year.
iter paying the audit and legal expenses, providing for income tax and the pension for the late manager and crediting the Shanghai Company with the usual selling commission and' agency fee. the Profit & Loss Account shows an adverse balance of F. 19,065.29 which is reduced somewhat by the small balance brought forward from last year.
Under the heading of Development Account in the balance sheet, you will see that F. 3,657.30 were spent on the immature areas on Loengoer Redjo Division. Thia is over F. 12,000 less than was spent last year on upkeep of the same areas.
The remaining Capital expenditure is explained in the report.
The Limburg Landen Working Account shows a -profit of F. 14,- 269.92 as compared with F. 173,011.- 86 last year. is difference 1s accounted for by the smaller coffee crop and the much Jower price realized for the rubber.
After providing F. 26,915.64 for income tax, paying the audit and legal expenses, making the usual transfers to the Shanghai Company and writing off the difference in exchange the Profit & Loss Account shows a loss of TF. 103,- 154.56 which, after deducting the sum brought forward from last year, leaves a balance of F. 99,170 to be transferred to the Balance Sheet. The Capital Expenditure has already been explained in the Report.
To arrive at the true position of} these composite Companies, that; is Companies whose headquarters are in Shanghai but which own estates in the Dutch Indies by means of holding all the shares in a Dutch Company, it is necessary to combine the Profit & Loss balances of the different Companies. In this case the Shanghai Company has an. undivided credit balance of Tls. 129,150.54, but on the other hand the two Dutch companies have a combined debit balance of Guilders 118,034.32 or say the equivalent of Ts. 65,574.62, so that the net undivided profits of the three Companies combined only amount to Tls. 63,575.92 or slightly more than sufficient to pay a dividend of 16 tael cents per share. In these circumstances your Directors felt that, rather than pay so small a dividend, it would be preferable to wait until after the middle of this year when they could gauge the course of the rubber market with more certainty and perhaps be able to recommend an interim dividend that it will be worth your while to receive.
The financial status of the three Companies combined need give you no worry, since we are in an exceedingly, strong position. On December 31 the excess of the cash liabilities of the two Dutch Com panies over the quick assets was F. 84,584.90 or say Tls. 46,991 but against this the Shanghai Company had an excess assets over liabilities of Tls. 294,668, so that the net surplus of cash assets was Tls. 247,677, which will be increased by whatever sum the stock of rubber realizes in excess of the valuation placed upon it in the accounts. This represents almost Tls. 0.50 per share or Tls. 30 per acre, whichever way you care to look at 1t.
In conclusion, gentlemen, 1 am sure you will all join with me in recording a hearty vote of thanks to the two managers and their staffs and to the Soerabaya agents for the very able way in which they have administered the affairs of the Estates throughout a most trying period.
There were no questions and the formal resolutions were put to the meeting and carried unanimously.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.