The L.G.O.C. Report and Meeting.
Page 9
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The first report of the liewly-cnestituted Loudon General Omnibus Co., Ltd., was presented to the shareholders on Tuesday of last week at 3 p.m., at Electric Railway. House, Westminster, S.W. Mr. C. J. Cater Stott. chairman of the company, presided. Vi-e heve already (issue of the 13th inst.) made a brief reference to the balance sheet. We now carry out our promise to deal with the revenue account at greeter length. The general receipts from all SOUrCeS, includiee traffic, private hire, advertising and sundries, amounted, from the 21st June to the 31st December last, to £1.,583,033. The expenditure was :—Drivers' and conductors Wages, £376,046; road expenses (including licences. superintendence. ticket services, omnibus lighting, fuel, lubrication. compeusation and Iancharges in connection therewith, and garage expenses). 2356,457 : the total for traffic expenses is, therefore, £732,503. Maintenance expenses were :----Rolling stock, tires. etc., £547,597; premises, furniture and fixtures, 215,899. General expenses (including rents, rates, taxes, directors' fees. office expenses, stationery, advertising and insurance) were £70.909. The depreciation charged in respect of motor omnibuses was 285,000, in respect of leases 270E19, and in respect of plant., machinery, furniture, etc., £1997. The balance cirried to profit and loss account is 2122,037. Interest. discounts, and dividends on investments add another 220,645 to the balance of revenue account, giving a disposable balance of £142,683. Debenture interest absorbs £18,750, cumulative income debenture stock 220,833, and £103,099 is carried to the balance sheet. A dividend of eight per cent. on the ordinary shares 4-pf the company, free of income tax, absorbs 292,038 and £11,061 is carried forward. The dividend is payable to-day {Thursday). The strength. of the Company's position can be gathered from the fact that its cash and investments amounted, at the 31st December last, to 2778,244. Creditors and credit accounts amounted to only 2386.447. Before proceeding to comment on certain points which emerge front the accounts and the chairman's speech, we will quote a few sentences from the latter. Mr. Cater Scott stated that the sale of the Walthametow works to a new company (the Associated Equipment. Co.. Ltd.), which ie capitalized at 2500,000, was carried out by the liquidator of the old L.G.O.C.,; he did not proceed to say so, but that action was no doubt necessary to rover the huge depreciaHon of the old motorbuses. How much the liquidator got by way of purchase price has not been disclosed, hut it. is no doubt available to anybody who cares to make the necessary inquiries or inspections. We particularly ciente from the speech : "It was felt that your company should confine its business to that of operation, leaving the manufacturing to those who had an organization specially equipped for that purpose, and who were in a position to utilize the works to much greater advantage than could be possible by your company. The Associated Equipment Co,, Ltd., will continue to supply your company with chassis and repair parts upon terms equally advantageous to those offered by other manufacturing companies." We regard this arrangement as a distinctly neat way of wrapping up some of the additional omnibus profits. They amounted, for the six months and nine days under notice, to a net sum of no less than 262,500. Even on the new capitalization of both undertakings, the combined net profits are at a rate which approximates to 20 per emit. per annum. Incidentally, of course, the diversion of some of the old L.G.O.C. manufacturing profits into the accounta of a separate concern may have a very material effect in the future upon the distribution which well he allocated under the agreement with the New Central Omnibus Coe Ltd., although that distribution tan in no circumstances fall below eight per cent. per annum. The Chairman announced that the passengers carried during the period totalled 285,315,873, an average of 1,470,700 per clay. The average fare paid per passenger worked out at. 1.33d. No information was given as to mileage run -tr working costs, and we have ourselves to drew certain inferences with regard to them. We now proceed to do so. According to our reckoning, the. company had an average of souse 2030 motorbuses in service during the period, and these vehicles performed an approximate total running of 50,000,000 miles. We do not profess that these figures are positively accurate, but we are satisfied that they are as nearly so as they can be given in the absence of an official statement. The aggregate mileage, if anything, is higher than the figure which we adopt. On those bases, we have constructed the following particulars of working expenditure:—