SIMMS MOTOR UNITS LTD
Page 17
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FURTHER EXPANSION OF OUTPUT AND PROFIT MR. LIARD FT'S STATEMENT
The Annual General Meeting of Simms Motor Units Ltd., was held on July 29th 1955, at the Company's WorkS. .Mr. G. E. Liardet (Chairman) presided and, in, the course of his speech, said:— " Last year I told you we faced the future with confidence and I referred to the Board's Policy of maintaining a high standard of quality in the face of most vicious Price cutting; I Itril glad to say this decision 'appears to have been justified. •
During 1954 your Company acquired a controlling interest in H.S.M. Ltd., a non-trading Company, which in turn owns the whole Of the Share Capital of Hdistman Ltd., Bath. The acquisition is reflected in the Consolidated Balance Sheet and Prat' and Loss Account. The form. of the Accounts has been revised in the
interests of clarity. •
The Net Profit of the Group, before Taxation, for the year 1954 amounts to £1,127,627: After providing for Taxation, Minority Interests and Preacquisition Profits, there remains a balance of £544,249 Net Profit available to the Shareholders of -Simms Motor Units Ltd., which, with the balance of £134,094 brought. forward, makes a total of £678,343.
A further £254476 has 'been transferred to General 'Reserve and i50;000 to Plant Replacement Reserve. Out el the balance of £369,742 your Directors recommend a Dividend of Is. 9d. on each Ordinary Share for the I'ear ended 31st December, 1954, leaving a balance to be carried forward into 1955 of £267,859.
The Balance Sheet reflects the Capitalisation of £200,000 of Reserves last year and a general improvement in our liquid resources which will be required to finance the Company's programme of expansion, together with that of Horstman Ltd., which includes the development Of a 5 acre site at Bath.
It is gra tifying to know that we have improved our position and increased our profit for.the year under review and, in our fight to maintain competition in the supply of certain most vital components for the Commercial Vehicle Industry, we have had much support and encouragement from our large customers.
The expansion of our Engineering Division, to which I referred last year, 'has gone forward to programme, with the result that we are able to offer still greater technical assistance to our customers. Further expansion is planned and research and development are now being 'pursued actively on Fuel Injection and .Electrical Apparatus to meet the requirements of the small high speed Diesel Engines which will .go into production in the next few years.
The very high content of Engineering skill in our products calls for the employment of increasing numbers of Designers and Technicians and we suffer, like most Companies, from the national shortage of such personnel, as they are not coming forward in sufficiently large numbers from schools and universities to satisfy the needs of -our expanding and complex industry.
Alterations and additions to exiting buildings to give more productive floor area were put in hand some months ago and are now nearing completion. We have also made considerable additions to plant. By this means we •hope to offset The evei rising cost of labour and materials, a trend which must cause anxiety because there seems to be little or no sign of stability being reached and we can easily price ourselves out of the markets of the world. It is disturbing that the savings arising from improved methods and the use of costly plant can be swallowed up so easily by these rising costs.
During the first few months of this 'year we have maintained our consistent expansion of output and this, coupled with our improved production methods, is the oily means of offsetting the reduced profit margin arising from the increased costs of material and labour.
We have the real team spirit and loyalty at Simms which have been amply demonstrated on occasions and, with our ever present recognition of our responsibilities to Customers, Shareholders and Employees, I look forward to presenting to you a satisfactory report of our activities this time next year."