P. And O. To Form Subsidiary

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28267, 3 May 1957, Page 13

P. And O. To Form Subsidiary

The Peninsula and Orient Steam Navigation Company is to form a wholly-owned subsidiary, the Charter Shipping Company, which has been registered in Bermuda. It has already placed contracts for several tankers The chairman of the company, Sir William Currie, told shareholders at the annual meeting that any tankers owned by the Charter Shipping Company would be registered under the British flag and manned according to British standards and at British wage rates. The ships would be at the disposal of the British Government as were ships owned in Britain. Much work had been done in preparation . for the company’s tankerbuilding programme. It had been decided to have more big shops than originally planned, but yet not to increase the size of the investment. This could be achieved only by building fewer vessels. Speaking of the increasing number of ships registered in countries where there was little or no taxation. Sir William Currie said that in 1956 the combined tonnage of Liberian and Panamanian tankers surpassed British tanker tonnage. Sir William Currie said that since the end of the war the P. and O. group had invested £66 million in the Australian liner trade.

The Orient and P. and O. companies were each contracting to build a large passenger ship. The choice was between building the most economical competitive replacements for the older ships or retiring from the Australian passenger trade altogether. By lengthening the route to include the Pacific coast of North America and by reducing the per capita cost of carrying each passenger by greater size, capacity and speed, they hoped to get a reasonable return. It was hoped to have the ships in commission by the end of 1960.

Donaghy’s Rope and Twine.—Recommended final dividend is Is 6d a share, making 2s or 10 per cent, (unchanged) for the year.—(P.A.)

Gisborne Gas.—Final dividend recommended is 3 oer cent., making 6 per cent, (unchanged) for the year. —(P.A.)

Bowatet Paper.—Consolidated earnings of the Bowater Paper Corporation group increased by £2,919,000 to £16,129,000 in the year ended December 31. A final dividend of 8 per cent, is being recommended, making a total of 12J per cent, for 1956, compared with an effective rate of 111 per cent, in the previous year. The latest year's profits include the earnings for eight months of the Mersey Paper Company, of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, which joined the Bowater group on April 30. 1956. The directors state that, excluding the production of the new Mersey company, the total output of the whole organisation last year exceeded that for 1955.