Quid Pro Quo Wanted for Limiting Dividends

Chronicle (Levin), 21 February 1949, Page 2

Quid Pro Quo Wanted for Limiting Dividends

LONDOX, Pelj. lif. Roplies to u ((uestioiniair.^ oi'it bv the Fe-deration of Brit&S iu order to ascertain tlie views rof its meniber companies about eontliniing the present poliey-pf'. voluntax'ily, limiting dividends, reveal tliaf there fs a eonsiderable division. of opinion on the subject. Althongh the majority of eompaniea said thev were prepared ti) contiiuie the poliey for a further year. a nuniber of them. made reservations whiidi they asked shonhl be brought *e the aftention of the rhavcellor oi' the Exchequor. Imperial Cheniieal Tndustries, for in tanee, said thev eonsidered Sir Stafford Cripps should be reminded that the efforts niAde by industrv to ]>revent in flation by liiniting dividends, weie being nuliified b.v a eonsiderable in erease in (fovernment expenditnre T.C.T. also eontended that anv industrial coneern should be free to wit'idraw from the agreement if it foiind itself threutened with diseriminatorv legislation. Another large iinn said it was on'y prepared to I iuiit dividends if in return Sir Stafford Cripps would undertalce not to use Stock Exchange prices as the basis for cak-ulating frompensation -iti event of nationalisation. Several other companies made the-r ngreenient not to raise dividends coiubtional upon there being no further -increase in wages. The preSent voluntarv agreemen' which Sir Stafford Cripps rccently ad-. niitted had been kept by the "vast majority-" of companies, ends on March U.' A joint statement outlining the attitude of the Federation of British I jidustries, Xational Union of Manu-, factuiers and Association of Tiritisli Chanibers of Conunerce, towards tln' renewal of the arrangements, is likely to be issued .sliortly.