MONEY IN BLUBBER

NZ Truth, Issue 1240, 5 September 1929, Page 22

MONEY IN BLUBBER

Handsome Profits

Financial Reviews

Australian Whaling Coy's Ambitious Venture

BIG DIVIDENDS LIKELY

(By "Fiat Lux:") 1 I'liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiliiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiini iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiimmni>| | New Zealander^ had the opportunity m October,' 1 | 1928, of lending their financial support to a purely New f [ Zealand whaling / venture. '*' | . 1 They did not respond to the call. Now it is J | Australia's turn and "Australia will be there" when | I the bis; dividends come round. I

EVEN so, New Zealanders arc again being given an opportunity of , coming into the industry, but this time of joining;' forces with Australia m reaping a harvest from the whalewealth of the Southern Seas. This critic whole-heartedly recommends the proposals of the Australian Whaling Company, Limited, which he believes to be sound, and are certainly very attractive. There is a decided risk m the (Venture, but against this there are prospects of huge dividends, which make the undertaking well worthy of invesr tors' most careful and serious Consideration. The risks, m this writer's opinion, consist principally of lack of ex* perience m the administrative, executive and marketing sides of the venture, and possible labor troubles. In this connection "Fiat Lux" has

observed that the estimates' of, profit are based upon whale oil realising £31 per ton, Which is understood to be

the contract price realised by thc Norwegian companies for cargoes delivered to American and Continental ports. ' No . provision seems to have been made in ' the. prospectus . for the carnage of the finished product from Australia. If tbe Norwegians are selling their catch at £31 per ton m New York, it is certain that to obtain the same price the , Australian concern will have to | deliver the goods free to that port by either sending their own ship up with the cargo, and thus having to meet voj'age expenses or else tranship the goods m Australia and pay freight to port of sale. Assuming that this item has not been taken into account (and of course It may have been, since ,the estimates are bulked and not shown m detail) there is still such a. very handsome margin left that with ordinary luck shareholders should get a steady 20 j per cent, dividend m addition to building 1 up reserves. The authorised capital of the

above shore station, (b) to establish and operate a similar station m N.S.W., and (c) to purchase and operate m Antarctica a mother or factory ship and a fleet of five modern criELSGrs / It is expected that the fleet will be able to work at least nine months out of each year, as the coastal season is followed immediately by the Antarctic, season. > 1 As - a result, higher profits . are anticipated than are enjoyed by the Norwegian companies, which are able to' work, only the Antarctic season. Some idea of the wealth extracted from south sea whaling by the European whaling 1 companies may be gleaned from the fact that for the four years ended m 1926 the average annual profits distributed by each of these companies was m excess of 42 per cent, on the whole of their capital. The writer wishes nothing better than that the. Australian company may equal if not exceed that brilliant record.

proposed conoern'.is' £,750,000, of whioh £415,000 is now on offbr to the < public and £70,000 m fully paid-ups is to be issued with deferred rights to the promotecs for valuable consideration. Minimum subscription upon which the company may proceed to allotment is £75,000. ' A point that is worthy of commendation is the company's intention to list the shaves on the Stock Exchanges m Australia and New - Zealand! m due course. Thc vendor company is the Australian Whaling Development Syndicate, Ltd., which owns and is selling to the 'new concern for £120,000 valuable technical services, research work and properties. The latter include the fully-equipped Norwegian Bay Whaling Station at Point Cloates, m Western Australia, which has been successfully operated for the past four years' by a Norwegian • company whose license to ooerate has now

lapsed. According to the amount of capital subscribed the hew company intends ""■"* (a) to '"operate the