Colyer Watson takes conservative line

Press, 26 April 1979, Page 27

Colyer Watson takes conservative line

FA Wellington Colyer Watson Holdings, Ltd “is riding the crest of the animal-hide price wave." but the company is worried the boom might not last jnuch longer, said the chairman (.Mr C. R. Pearce) 1 a: the first annual meeting As a listed company.

The first-half of the I Wellington-based hide and •animal b y-p r o d u c t s ; exporter’s year may finish i up supporting a weaker i second half, and the • company was “viewing the i forward situation with some conservatism,” he said. The very high level of unit prices being realised on[ [ major export items had been! j maintained since the' (December 31 balance date. In some cases the prices had substantially increased “and this has resulted in buoyant trading for the opening months of the current financial period,” he said. “All our marketing attitudes are traditionally conditioned by the old' (maxim that what goes up; must come down again, and! it has been difficult ini .recent months to accept the! new plateux of prices, each! higher than the previous! one, without increasing; concern for the reaction which must eventually come. “There are some signs of such a reaction developing, and that while the statistical position of the markets for

>'the commodities in which 11 we trade is still showing d great strength, there are some of the familiar signs of r; hesitancy on the part of d buyers, difficulty with the : increasing demands for !| financing the high levels of (prices, and these combined '•'with the approaching midi[ summer vacation time in 11 Northern Europe, could lead i'to the break in price levels that we have for some time been expecting. _ “While results for the first-half of the year look to ■ be on a satisfactory level, we do have some reservation for the remainder of the year, and it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that the first-half 'year may have to support a J less buoyant second-half. i Mr Pearce also told j shareholders that the (company intends to change jits balance date from} • December 31 to October 1. ; “This will then coincide; with what is described ini the industry as the ‘meat; year’ and "will bring ouri accounting schedules into line with al! our main; customers and suppliers here! in New Zealand,” he said.