TOBACCO PROFITS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 March 1922, Page 5

TOBACCO PROFITS.

BRITISH-AMERICAN FALL. For the first time for several years the net profits of the British-American Tobacco Company have fallen (says the London Morning Post). In th® pa®t year, the directors state, tfcey were £4,323,481, which is about £556,000 less than the net profits of 1920. With the exception of 1915, there has been an increase every year since 1913. In that year the profits were* £2,151,836, land in 1914 they were £2,177,022. i I’hen there was a drop to £1,850,059. In 1916 they rose again by nearly a million, and in 1917 they for the first time exceeded £3,000,000. In 1918 there was a slight advance to £3,140,174; in 1919 they rose to £3,776,508; and in 1920 the addition of well over a million took them to £4,879,177. For 1916 and 1917 the profits were shown subject to excess profits duty, but for the past four years provision has been made for income tax corporation profits tax, and the excess profits duty before the profit was struck. A final dividend of eight per cent., free of British income tax, is to be paid on the ordinary shares for the year,’ against a final dividend of nine per cent, a year ego, and the carry forward is increased from £1,636,464 to £1,890,187. Three interim dividends of 4 per cent, each, free of tax, have been paid during the year, and the total distribution of 20 per cent., free of tax is therefore equal to £2B Ils sd, less tax. The total distribution in the preceding year was 24 per cent, free of tax, equal to £34 5s !8d less tax. An interim dividend of 4 per cent, free of British income tax, is to be paid on the ordinary shares at the same time as the final dividend for the past year. In October last it was announced that the company had received from the Enemy Debts Clearing Office two sums aggregating together £1,062,000 in respect of their German claims, and the other sums remained still to bep,aid. Some years before the company provided for possible losses through the war by creating a special reserve of £1,500,000, but the statement now issued does not mention whether the sum received on account o-f the German claims is included in the profit for the year, or whether the special reserve has been drawn upon in any way.