C.F.M. paying 6c interim dividend

Press, 10 April 1979, Page 14

C.F.M. paying 6c interim dividend

An interim dividend to 6c a share is payable on April 30 by The Canterbury Frozen Meat Co, Ltd. For many years the company has paid a steady interim dividend of 4c a share. Last year the total dividend was 14c a share.

“This year’s increase is a measure taken to reduce disparities between interim and final dividends, and should not be construed as an indication of a higher dividend for this year. In fact it appears that the current year’s profit will be unlikely to match last year’s S3M,” said the chairman (Mr I. E. O. McKellar) in making the announcement.

Without national stoppages the 1978-79 killing season got away to a good start. However, throughput to date is slightly below that for the

same period of last year. Bookings for sheep and lamb are rapidly falling off. and the company was forced to close down mutton chains in March — earlier than usual — because there was insufficient stock offering. The total lamb and sheepkill to April 9 was 2.877,615, compared with 2,916,812 for the same period of last year.

The cattle-kill was 9359 lower at 60,568, and the pig kill also fell 16,729 head.

However, climatic conditions generally favoured animal growth, and average weights for most classes of stock are higher this season. There has been an improvement in the prices for byproducts, particularly edible offals. However, these prices are unlikely to affect significantly the over-all result because of the lower kill, the directors say.