Dennis Exports Up
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A T the annual general meeting of 1-14Dennis Bros., Ltd., on December 20, the new chairman of the company, Sir Geoffrey Burton, who joined the board last March, said that export sales showed an increase, but the company was still hampered by currency and import restrictions. The fire-engine department, under Mr. J. R. Downing, deputy managing director, had had a most satisfactory year, and engines had been s u pp lied to Persia, Egypt, Palestine, Turkey and other important markets. Sales of municipal vehicles and appliances abroad had also been good. He mentioned that the dividend was often quoted as a percentage of the issued capital, which, for the year in question, amounted to 250 per cent. This was interpreted by many as indicating excessive profits. He pointed out that this was the result of good housekeeping in the past, for when taxes were low, the company withheld, over a long period, a proportion of the profits earned, and the total constituted an actual capital much larger than that issued. If the company were to call its shares £1 instead of ls.; or declare that each would be replaced by 20 shares of Is., it would make no difference either to the profits earned or the dividend paid.