BUSINESS & F I N A N C E

Companies that make up C&EN's stock price indexes PULP AND PAPER FIRMS Champion Paper Crown Zeller-

bach Kimberly-Clark Marathon

Rayonier St. Regis Paper West Virginia

Pulp & Paper

FOOD PROCESSING FIRMS Archer-Daniels-

Midland Armour Borden Corn Products

General Foods General Mills Heinz Quaker Oats Swift

Dividends Set α New Peak But in December chemical firms' payments were lower

C H E M I C A L FIRMS paid out more money to their stockholders last year than ever before. Cash dividend pay­ments by chemical corporations issuing public reports amounted to $855.4 mil­lion, up about 3% from 1955's $832.5 million total, according to the Depart­ment of Commerce.

The gain, however, was not so sharp

CASH DIVIDENDS Higher Last Year , But Down in December

(§1 Total • Dec. only

1955 Millions of Dollars

1 9 5 6

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BUSINESS & F I N A N C E

as a year ago; in 1955 dividends were 17% ahead of 1954's total.

Chief reason for the smaller increase: chemical firms were much less generous last December, compared with 1955's final month. Through the first 11 months, payments maintained a. pace about 15% ahead of the year before. But in December, when year-end extras usually add a healthy boost to the year's total, pay-out dropped to $198 .5 mil­lion, compared with $260.5 disbursed the year before and $217.9 million in December 1954.

Lower year-end payments reflect growing concern of companies to re­tain earnings in the light of rising costs and still booming expenditures for ex­pansion. As a result, many firms that raised payments at the end of 1955 made no change last year. Others, to conserve cash, gave stockholders an extra in the form of a stock dividend (which does not show up in Com­merce's figures) rather than money. And in a few cases—notably Du Pont— year-end payments were actually de­creased as earnings sagged below the

previous year's level (C&EN, Dec. 10, 1956, page 6104) .

Companies are usually loath to cut back payments once a dividend rate has been established. But this year, in the face of tight money, rising costs, and estimates of even higher capital outlays, few stockholders are expecting the substantial dividend boosts that marked 1954 and 1955.

• Firestone Tire set new sales and earnings records last year. Although sales, at over $1.11 billion, were only about $310,000 above 1955's volume, net income for the year ending last Oct. 31 advanced from $55.4 mil­lion ($6.81 a common share) to $60.5 million ($7.43 a share), "highest ever earned by any company in the rubber industry." • American Agricultural Chemical's profits slipped to $399,000 during the six-month period ending Dec. 31, off from $555,000 and $716,000 in the corresponding periods of 1955 and 1954 respectively. Earnings per share for the most recent half year were down to 64 cents, compared with 88 cents the year before and $1.14 in 1954. • American Potash has bought Na­tional Northern Corp., whose staff of 50 scientists and technicians carry on ordnance and explosives research at laboratory and testing facilities in West Hanover, Mass., and a testing range at Halifax, Mass. It will provide Ameri­can Potash with personnel and facilities to further the company's interests in explosives, solid propellants, and high energy fuels.

Thiokol Chemical has acquired Na­tional Electronics Laboratories, Wash­ington, D . C. National, which will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Thiokol, has been active in electronic fields since 1946.

Dayton Rubber plans to sell $5 mil­lion of convertible debentures to the public. Proceeds will be added to working capital and used, in part, to reduce bank borrowing and to finance increased inventories and receivables.

• Aluminium, Ltd., directors have ap­proved a three-for-one stock split. The proposal will be submitted for stock­holder approval at the company's an­nual meeting April 25.

Correction: In listing forecasts made by the Department of Commerce about the chemical industry this year (C&EN, Jan. 28, page 7 0 ) , we inadvertently said production would be 4% ahead of 1957, instead of 1956.

ΗARSHAW S C I E N T I F I C

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Cleveland 6, Ohio, 1945 East 97th St. Houston 11, Texas, 6622 Supply Row Cincinnati 13,Ohio, 6265 WieheRoad Los Angeles 22, Calif., 3237 S. Garfield Ave. Detroit 28, Mich., 9240 Hubbell Ave. Philadelphia 48, Pa., Jackson & Swanson Sts.

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