When it is considered that the corresponding rate for the previous year was 18, it will be realized how important a factor exchange is in our financial operations and particularly in covering our dollar profit to sterling. In terms of dollars our profit for the year under review was nearly 6 per cent, in excess of the figure for the preceding year, but when converted to sterling it was actually 24 per cent, less by reason of the lower exchange rate to which I have just referred.
We have also witnessed a forceful reflection of this depreciation in exchange in the form of increased operating costs, and while we have refrained up to the.present, from passing on to our passengers any portion of this increase, it will be apparent that this position may demand early rectification. While on the subject of exchange, I would draw your attention to the item of £30355 appearing in the balance sheet as a deduction from Reserve Account. This represents the difference in exchange in converting dollar balances to sterling, at the end of the year for the purpose of closing off the accounts.
It is a familiar item in our accounts and is usually dealt with in the profit and loss account, but as it is greater for last year than for some years past, due to the sharp drop in exchange, it was felt that it would be more appropriate to deal with it in the manner I have just described and so save the profit and loss account from violent fluctuations of this character.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.