7% MORTGAGE DEBENTURE ISSUE.

Shannon News, 28 June 1921, Page 4

7% MORTGAGE DEBENTURE ISSUE.

SHEEPFARMERS’ CO

OPPORTUNITY FOR INVESTORS

The public have already shown their, faith in the farmers and in farmers'

trading concerns, and it has beeu proved that there is plenty of money in the country ready to be lent where it will do most good. Therefore considerable interest is attached to the announcement in this issue, of the issue of 7£*per cent Ten-year Mortgage Debentures the Gisborne Sheepfarmers’ Frozen Meat and Mercantile Co., Ltd. This concern is the pioneer farmers’ company in Poverty Bay, having been established nineteen years ago. The additional capital is required to finance its present and future expansion, the company having acquired the Tokomaru Sheepfarmers* Freezing Company, Ltd., and the Gisborne Farmers’ Co-operative Company, Ltd. The striking feature of the prospectus is the fact that the £300,000 Debenture Issue is secured by first mortgage of properties and plant valued at £615,263. The company is not at liberty to : create any mortgage or charge ranking in priority tb or pari passue with the debenture-holders’. security over the said properties. It will therefore be seen that the security amounts to over £2 for every £1 Invited from investors. The debentures are in. denominations of £SO, £IOO, £SOO and £IOOO, the currency being for ten years from 31st August, 1921. Interest at the rate of 7£ per cent per annum will be paid half-yearly free of Debenture Tax. Both the debentures and the interest coupons are/to; bearer, and are readily transferable. Applicants may pay for the debentures in full or in instalments.

The Company was formed *in 1902, and although its chief aim has been 1 to safeguard producers’ interests rather than make profits, its average rate of dividend has been 6J per cent. It has distributed £174,795 among shareholders, rebates amounting to £100,527, and the sum of £123,352 of reserves is now to be distributed as share capital. The Company’s, main business is concerned (with the killing and freezing of meat, and it operates on clients’ account only. From the points of view of killing and storage capacity its plant is one of the largest, in New Zealand. The Kaiti (Gisborne) works will store ;422,000 freight carcases, the Tokomaru j Bay Works 135,000, and the Hick’s Bay Works 60,000. The killings a,t the Haiti works reveal the consistent growth ,of the company, the carcases put through being as follows: — 1904-5, 191,791 . carcases; .1909-10, 344,039 carcases. 1914-15, 381,820 carcases; 1919-20, 474,978 carcases. The company has 1600 shareholders, and it employs over 700 men during seven or eight months of the year. It js well known that the East Coast districts which are served by this company are of tremendous potential wealth. They % have a great future before them. The number of sheep in that region is 2,885,528. The exports from Gisborne are increasing at a rapid rftte, as the totals for the following quinquennial periods show.-1916-1920 £2,144,566 1911-1915 £1,373,145 1906-1910 £992,554 1901-1905 £512,749 Altogether, the soundness of that district and the strong position of the Gisborne Sheepfarmers’ Frozen Meat ! Company make this financial scheme : worthy of-most careful investigation. ' The interest is liberal, a currency of . ten years Is assured, and the security is solid. The directors are: Messrs. F. B. Barker, A. J. Cameron, J. Clark, F. Hall, H. Kenway, C. A. de Lautour, j H. D. de Lautour, J. W. Nolan, GK M. ' Reynolds, and H. Williams. j The informative prospectus can be obtained locally from the Bank of New 1 Zealand or any member of the Stock * Exchange, or from the Company’s! broker, Mr W. Lissant Clayton, Gis- 1 borne, or the Company’s office, ‘ Gisborne. !