It will be of interest to shareholders to know that during the past year one of the developed properties taken over as at March 1, 1939, and which appeared as an asset in the balance sheet as at December 31, 1939, was sold at a satisfactory profit, which accounts for the payment of the special interim dividend of $2.00 per share paid during the year to the company's shareholders, The profits earned during the year, it will be noted, would have permitted the distribution of a slightly larger amount by way of dividend, but ín view of the general state of uncertainty now existing, your directors considered it prudent not to increase the dividend this year, thereby continuing the conservative policy of keeping the company's position liquid so as to enable it adequately to deal with any contingencies,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.