The profit for the year was £60,873 which when added to the amount of £23,144 brought forward, produces a total of £84,617 compared with £105,644 for the preceding year £35,000 has been set aside as provision for Renewals, leaving a balance of £49,617.
As these are suitable times and circumstances in which to draw on our reserves for the purpose of augmenting the amount available for distribution in the form of dividend, the sum of £20,000 has been transferred from reserve account to profit and loss, appropriation account, which brings our disposable balance up to £69,617.
Your Directors now recommend that a dividend of 8 per cent. be paid which will absorb £53,600 leaving to be carried forward to the new account the sum of £16,017.
In October last, careful consideration was given to the wisdom or otherwise of paying an interim dividend in accordance with our usual practice, but having regard to the result of our operations for the first six months of the year, and to all other circumstances, it was felt that the prudent course would be to leave the matter of dividend over until the position could be properly viewed in the light of the annual accounts.
With regard to the Balance Sheet, there is nothing on the liabilities side requiring explanation to which I have not already referred. On the Assets side the figure for stores is down compared with last year by £21,383 due entirely to the substantial fall in exchange. Sundry Debtors are also down by £4,438 almost wholly for the same reason.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.