August i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



383 



RUBBER INTERESTS IN EUROPE. 



INCREASE OK CAPITAL OF THE " CONTINENTAL." 



AT a special meeting of the shareholders of the Continen- 

 tal Caoutchouc- and Guttapercha-Compagnie (Hano- 

 ver, Germany) on June 27 the proposal of the board to increase 

 the capital of the company from 3.000,000 to 4,200,000 marks 

 was adopted without debate, after a statement by Herrn Sieg- 

 mund Seliginann, one of the directors, of the considerations 

 which had prompted this motion, lie stated that the demand 

 for the products of the Continental company had shown an ex- 

 ceptional increase, and that the limit of the company's capac- 

 ity with the means now at its disposal had been reached. 

 Anticipating the action of the shareholders at this meeting, 

 the erection of extensive new buildings for increasing the 

 capacity of the company's plant had already been commenced. 

 It was resolved to issue 1000 new shares of 1200 marks each, 

 in all respects equivalent to the 1200 mark shares outstanding, 

 except that for the fiscal year 1904-05 these new shares shall have 

 a claim to only one half of the proportion of the net profits to 

 be paid for the year on each of the old shares. The board is 

 empowered to assign the whole new issue to the firms of Hern- 

 hard Caspar, B. Magnus, Mendel & Rosenthal, and D. Perelz, 

 all of Hanover, at the rate of 240 />er centum, plus the cost of 

 revenue stamps and other expenses, said firms being obligated 

 to ofTer the entire amount to the existing shareholders on the 

 terms that the owner of 3000 marks in old shares shall be en- 

 tilled to 1200 marks of the new issue at 247^ per centutn 

 within 14 days. The capital of the company hitherto has con- 

 sisted of 1500 shares of 600 marks each and 1750 shares of 

 1200 marks each ; the number of shares of the latter denom- 

 ination is now increased to 2750. Director Seligmann stated 

 after the meeting that it had not yet been possible to increase 

 the price of rubber goods, notwithstanding the increased cost 

 of crude rubber, but that the larger volume of sales had made 

 up the difference. 



JOHNSON & PHILLIPS, LIMITED. 

 This company was registered in London, June 17, 1905, with 

 £, 175,000 capital in ordinary shares and ,£175,000 first mortgage 

 debenture stock, to take over as a going concern the business 

 of Johnson & Phillips, electrical, telegraph, and general engi- 

 neers and cable makers, of Victoria Works, Victoria road, Old 

 Charlton, Kent (London ofiice at 14, Union court. Old Broad 

 street, E. C). The business was established in 1875. Samuel 

 Edmund Phillips died in 1893, leaving as sole proprietor Wal- 

 ter Claude Johnson, who has taken little active part in the di- 

 rection of the business since 1900, and the formation of the new 

 company is to enable him to retire. The conduct of the busi- 

 ness has during this period been left almost entirely in the 

 hands of the general managers, Messrs. John Macgregor and F. 

 Sydney Paterson, who will continue their services to the com- 

 pany. The purchase price payable by the new company has 

 been fixed at £305.000, payable in cash, debenture stock, and 

 ordinary shares, and the assets of the business have been certi- 

 fied by a firm of chartered accountants as being worth fully this 

 amount, without including any estimate of the good will of the 

 business which, however, is included in the sale. The issues of 

 the new company are planned to provide £45,000 additional 

 working capital. 



DUNLOP PNEUMATIC TYRE CO., LIMITED. 



The directors of this company have been attempting of late 



to give effect in the sense of the annual shareholders' meeting 



of November last, that a material reduction should be made in 



the capitalization of the company. A scheme to this end was 



proposed as early as 1901, with a view to anticipating the expiry 

 of the patents which took place in September, 1904, but this 

 failed to meet the approval of the shareholders. The expira- 

 tion of the patents made them disappear from the balance sheet 

 as an asset, and left good will figuring alone for the large sum 

 of £3,894,071, which was unreasonable for a trading company 

 whose profits in the last fiscal year, after paying administrative 

 expenses and debenture interest, were only £105,614. It is felt 

 now that the company is obliged to enter upon some plan of 

 reconstruction, and a circular to the shareholders under dale of 

 June 15 outlined a plan which may be summarized as follows : 



[ rhe company was legistercd on M.-iy 6, 1896, wuh a debenture capital 

 of /"l. 000,000 .ind share capital of ^.j.ooo.ooo.] 



Pkksent Issued Capital. 



The sharesat present issued, with the respective rights attached there- 

 to, are as follows : 

 V'wt per cent, cumulative preference shares oi £,\. each, 



having priority as to capital and dividends £ 994, qgo 



Eight per cent, cumulative ordinary shares of £\ each, pref- 

 erential as to dividend, but not as to capital QQ9.993 



Deferred shares of /i^i each, entitled to all surplus dividends 1,999,850 



Total present share capital ^3.994)833 



Proposed Capital. 

 I [■ is proposed that the share capital shall consist of : — 

 994,990^^^5 per cent, cumulative preference shares of £1 

 each, preferential as to capital as well as dividend, as at 



present . . £ 994,990 



910.643 " new ordinary " shares of £1 each in lieu of the 



existing ordinary and deferred shares 916,643 



Total new share capital £'.911,633 



Proposed Distribution of the New Share Capital. 



The existing preference shareholders will retain their 

 994,990 five per cent, cumulative preference shares of 

 £ I, preferential as to capital and dividend (involving 



no change) ^ 994,990 



The new ordinary shares will be distributed as follows : 

 To the existing ordinary shareholders 666,662 " new ordi- 

 nary " shares of £r each, i.e., two shares in the re- 

 duced capital, for every three shares of present capital, 

 cancelling all arrears of dividend 666,662 



To the existing deferred shareholders 249.981 " new ordi- 

 nary " shares of £1 each. ;. c, one share in the reduced 

 capital for every eight deferred shares in present capi- 

 tal 249,981 



Total £i.9l'.633 



A meeting of shareholders dissatisfied with the proposed 

 scheme of reconstruction was held in Dublin on July 4. The 

 basis of their objection lies in the fact that whereas the divi- 

 dend on the preference shares has been regularly met, the ordi- 

 nary shares were in arrear, as to their dividend, up to Septem- 

 ber 30, 1904, to an amount of £244,998 5^. Zd., and some of the 

 holders of the latter are unwilling to abandon all claim to this 

 arge amount. A committee was appointed at the Dublin meet- 

 ing to arrange for a conference between the ordinary and other 

 shareholders to discuss and promote a scheme which should be 

 more satisfactory to all parlies in interest. 



CLAUDIUS ASH, SONS & CO. (iQOS), LIMITED. 

 The above named company was registered in London, July 

 17, 1905, with a capital of £1,000,000 [ = $4,866,500], divided 

 equally into preference and ordinary shares at £1 each, to ac- 

 quire and carry on the business of Claudius Ash & Sons, Lim- 

 ited, dealers in dental materials, and Ash & Co., sole manufac- 

 turers to the before mentioned company of mineral teeth, den- 

 tal rubbers, and materials. The original firm of Claudius Ash 

 & Sons, founded about the year 1825, carried on both businesses 

 until 1889, since which time the businesses, though separate, 

 have been carried on in close association. The growth and de- 



