How much NFC support for NCL?
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John Darker quotes (CM May 24 and 31) the chairman of NFC saying that NCL has been supported to the tune of £5m in 1973 by NFC profits elsewhere. Report and accounts of NFC do not enable the statement to be substantiated beeause of the lack of detail, but the figures in total make the statement doubtful. The global figures make me suspect that it is probably at least irresponsible to say that "a monetary blood transfusion of £100,000 a week was needed to sustain the ailing NCL".
The NFC report para. 2.8. shows a profit before interest of £7.7m. This includes extraordinary items of f 5.3m without disclosing how much of this was earned by the ailing NCL. Study of the tables on p. 74/5 of the report shows clearly that cash flow is consistently negative without excess proceeds from sale of property. If NCL has contributed substantially to this property realization they surely should not be so liberally castigated by the chairman.
Why did John Darker just repeat parrot fashion the chairman's report?' cannot match the literary skill of either but as a slightly numerate person I would say the chairman's suggestions that NCL is incapable of supporting itself financially and must rely on the rest of the NFC are wide of the mark. You should complete your analysis by challenging the NFC to publish NCL cash flow figures for 1969 to 1973. They could be something along these lines for 1973 alone: £m OUT Loss 5.9 Capital investment 4.0 9.9 IN Depreciation 40. Property realization surplus 5.0 Deficit grant 1.6 10.6 Surplus PAID INTO NEC 0.7 Since 1971 the NEC has produced consistently worse figures each year when the accounts are prepared on the same basis. It has only created a positive cash flow by selling properties, which is a pretty ruinous path when at the same time you claim restriction on capital investment as a sound business policy. The NFC does not explain its own failure by making a scapegoat out of its company "that no one has equalled its improvement anywhere" (Motor Transport May 17 — "What Sir Dan would have told TSSA").
GEORGE PAGE, Queens way, London.
[John Darker writes: My homely illustration about the £100,000 a week monetary blood transfusion was drawn from the NFC's annual report para. 2.5. If this turns out to be an "irresponsible" estimate I shall be
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