THE GREAT WOOL AMALGAMATION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1944, 14 September 1888, Page 2

THE GREAT WOOL AMALGAMATION

* GOLDSBROUGH, MORT AND 00.

. An f xtraordinary meeting of the aSare--1 holders of R. Goldsbroogh and Co., Limited, was held at thalr wool warehonaea In Melbourne on Monday, whet tho following resolutions were unanl- ' mously agreed to, Mr J. S. Horsfall In ' the chair : — 1 1. That the capital of the company be 1 increased by the oreation of 300,000 new > shares of £10 each. ! 2. That suoh phares shall be issued at suoh I times and at suoh placed within Australasia, the United Kingdom or elsewhere, and eithei ( at par br at a premium and otherwise or l suoh terms and conditions as the directors [ may deem expedient. 3. That the name of tbe company be , ohanged to 44 Goldsbrough, Mort and Company, Limited." J The Chairman, fn referring to these resolutions, said : Io connection with thla proposed new iusue of shares I have to announce to yon that yonr directors have oompleted the amalgamation of the bualneaa of Mort and Co., Limited, with tbat of onr own and that the whole will now ba merged into oaa o )mpany bearing the name of Goldabrough, Mort and Co, Limited. Part of the amount to be paid to Mort and Cj, Limited, will be In ahareß cf thia company In order to give them a large Intereat In it, and we have therefore arranged to allot 50,000 ahareß to tham, whfch haa rendered it necessary to Increase our capital and having ia view the great future before this business and the probable necessity to Increase Itr ctrpiknl -ffom-tJme-to-tfmej air our operations extend, we propose to take powers to faaup 300,000 sharea more, Including the 50,000 sharea to Mort and Co., Limited, which when all are Issued, would increase onr subacribed cipltal to £6,000,000 sterling, We propoße to allot a large p cportlon of fature Ismea to English shareholders, In order to strengthen our financial position m London. The buaineaa of Mort and 00., Limited, has been acquired on advautageona ternW and the combination of the two concerns plaoea us far ahead of all competitors In the AußtralJan wool trade the total sales of the two companies laat season ln Melbourne and Sydney being 137,800 bales, out of a total of 374,000 cold m Australia. Ia addition to thla the combined firms shipped about 30,000 bales, fethna making a total of nearly 170,000 bales handled by them In one year, being more than one Blxth of the entire annual export of Australia. - The name of Mort la a household word throughout New South Wales, and tha late Mr Mort waa the Goldabroogh of the Sydney wool trade. The magnlfioent warehouaes owned by Mort and Co., Limited, at the Olroolar Qiay, Sydney, are unrivalled In the city of Sydney for position and completeness, but aa the site Is now likely to become far too valuable to be uaed for atorlng wool, your directors, m conjunction with Mort and 00., Limited, have'eeoured at very small ooat during the laat few daya an additional 160 ft of frontage at Darling Harbor, adjoining our [warehouses there. We have also 120 ft at Darling B arbor at the baok of our warehouses, and we take over from Mort and Co., Limited, a further' frontage of 280 ft, of which 210 ft is freehold, and on_ which there is a large warehouse occupied by them for grain and station produce. We have thus a total of 560 ft of splendid frontage, at Darling Harbor available for building, and we can consequently double or treble our present wart house accommodation there, and thus be able to dispense with the warehouse at Circular . Quay. This will, we estimate, be a saving ojf fully £10,000 a year inthe working of the two places. For the present season we shall carry on both concerns as at present, it being now too. late to make any change for thia year! The directors of Mort and Co. will hold largo interests m, th.c concern and will taka an aotive pa?t m the management m conjunction with our present Btaff m Sydney, The city properties which we aoquire by this amalgamation are most valuable, and Bince we arranged the price and terms, a great increase in' value has been acquired through the determination of the New Sou,th Wales Government (only made a few days ago) to carry the railways to Circular Quay. We believe we are justified i>j stating that the city properties are alone worth the entire amount at whioh we have agreed to take the business over. The combination of the names of the two great founders of the Australian wool and produce sales is happily made m the name which wo have agreed to adopt, v:z . Goldsbrough, Mort and Co , Limited, and the success of their efforts h already evidenced by the rapid and colobsbl growth of tho business tranaactod m the colonies, the total sales made last season representing about £8,000,000. sterling m ya!ue. We believe that this trade is only m its iufancy, and that before many years are over nearly the whole of the wool grown m Australh will be sold intho colonies. So highly were the efforts of the late T- S. ._ort appreciated m bydnoy that a statue has been erected to his memory m recognition of his great eu terpnae end public spirit. The late Richard Goldsbrough well deservad a similar tribute, but these magnificent warehouses will probably form his most totting monument—The ''Daily Telegraph," August 291h, 1888.