Investment Injustices' Detailed by John Spencer Wills
Page 47
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A T the annual general meeting of B.E.T. Omnibus Services Ltd., in London, Mr. John Spencer Wills, chairman, reported that the investment income of the company for the year ended March 31 was £24,000 more than the previous year.
The year's results, which must again be regarded as satisfactory, he said, had to be viewed against a background of rising k..osts of bus operation.
On investment, Mr. Wills said: " I propose to refer to two matters relative to the investments of your company. The first is in respect of the sale of the holding of £63,720 British Transport 3 per cent Static 1978/88. The story of this holding furnishes a good example of the injustices to which shareholders are often subjected when their property is expropriated by government action. On July 1, 1933, the London Passenger Transport Board acquired compulsorily the London omnibus undertaking of Tilling and British Automobile Traction Ltd. and London, Transport stocks, to a nominal value of £173,593, were issued by way of compensation to Tilling and British Automobile Traction Ltd. In 1942. that company went into voluntary liquidation, and half of its assets, including half of the London Transport stocks, i.e., £86,786, was transferred to your company. Whereas the income from the half share of the assets of the London omnibus undertaking was approximately £11,000 per annum, the income from your company's share of the London Transport stocks transferred in 1942 was only £2,700 per annum. " Under the Transport Act, 1947, the £86,786 London Transport stocks were exchanged. again compulsorily, for £63,720 British Transport 3 per cent Stock 1978,88, and the annual income was further reduced to £1,900 per annum. The stock was sold at a loss of £43,538, of which a loss of £23,076 would have been inevitable on redemption, because of the reduction in the nominal amount of the holding when the stocks were exchanged under the 1947 Act. The proceeds of the sale are being reinvested, as opportunities arise, to produce a better return than the 3 per cent per annum from the British Transport Stock."
Mr. Wills went on to say that there was a small decrease of about two per cent in the number of passengers carried. The number of passenger-miles run by bus and coach operators in Great Britain was reduced between 1951 and 1961 by some 15 per cent, while in the same period passenger-miles by car and motorcycle more than doubled.
Referring to the Beeching Plan, Mr. Wills said that leading bus operators have already informed the Minister of Transport that they will do all they can to co-operate in meeting the needs of passengers affected by railway closures— but it is certain that they would do this better if they were unhampered by the heavy tax on derv.
Mr. Wills said that they must dispel any idea in the minds of the public that bus services in rural areas will suddenly turn into gold mines as the result of railway closures.
Discussing the company's African interests, Mr. Wills said that despite political uncertainties, with their harmful effect on economic activity, the 1962 results of road passenger and freight activities of the companies in East, Central and South Africa, managed so successfully by United Transport Co. Ltd., showed an improvement over the previous year.