Tíminn - 18.07.1971, Side 8

Astatement of wcM'ld-wide i nterest
MrJócelynHambro reportsto shareholders
ipast vear have been directed to
—icetín.i; the cliallenge that tliis presents.
Oompetttton is keener than ever before
" fJ thc services we offer have to be fast,
curate and flexible. Above all we have
;o>meet the needs of our customers,
J ,wherevcr these arise. For many years we
have been a thoroughly international
orgamsation, but in the last financial
year we liave expandcd and consolidated
our position ovcrseas to meet the
hanking nccds of today. w
' - Oui results rcflect this period of transition, . ,
hut 1 am coníident that the rewards will be increasingly
opparent in theyears to come. Infiation remains as a
.yorld-wide problem and the Government still needs to
feconcile thc rcquircments of price stability, full
eniploynicnt and economic growth. This difficulty has g
not tuisen ovcrnight; it will not be solved overnight.
L ise who bclicvc that such problemscan be solved with
roke of thc lcgislative pen put more faith in human
Srethanwouldbe wisc fora practising banker.
tycvcr, wc do havc a Governmept.w^ a,wijl tft--x.
ent.-and a belief in itself and in thc British people.
New Regulations
Wc wcleome the Bank of Fngland’s new proposals
trthc control of credit-which I persónally consider to
v thc most important contribution to thc banking
-tcm'iiicc the Radcliffe C'ommittee report some 15
irsago. We havcalways operated with a substantially
,rcater degrce of liquidity than that now rccommended ,
>y thCBank ofEngland but, far more important, it
"gnals theBank'sdesire tosee much greatercompetition
i thcdomestic bankmg sphere. Wc can only bencfit
J'romthisfrccratmospherc.
Rccord Year ;
The past year has not bcen without its customary
ditTiculties for theCity 6f l.ondon, somewhat aggravatcd
by thc rc-introduction of financial discipline and the
hrce/cs of frce enterprise; for some these bree/es had an
arcticquality. However painful this may bc, I fecl that we
Iare entering a period of regencration. and that when we
, join thc Coinmon Market, Industry and thcCity will
show their undoubted ability to exploit the new oppor-
tunitics tliat the F.E.C. presents.
Fortunately I am glad to report that it has been an
excellcnt ycar for us. Our balanct shect total is a record of
: £730 inillion; disclosed profits liave inc.eased for ihe
fdurtecnfh year in succession and are riow £2,565,000,
or án increaseof 15.6 per cent over iast ycar'sequivalent
figurc, and-we havc recommenaed an increase in the
dividend for thc fourth'sueccíssiveyear from 28 per cent
todOperccnt. We have also appropi iatcd £500,000 to
the published rcscrve of Hambros Bank from trus year’s
carnings.
l’rivateBill
Our most important development was the Privaté
Act of Parliament which, on Ist Julyi 1970. allowed us to
separate the banking side of the businessfrom our
Íncreasingly important iuvestment und other financial
activities. It had bccome increasingly dtfFicuU for us as a
bank to show these and other non-banking activities in a
form of accounts whicn had primarily to be judged b>
banking eonventions, ratios. liquiditics and themix of
assets. While Hambros Bank Emiiied icmainsthc princi-
pal sourceofour profits. it is now a wnolly-owned sub-
sidiarv of Hambros Limited. thequqted parent company.
Merchandise and Investment Trust
Wchave in the past held nrianv of ourrnajor Group
invcstmcnts in MIT. Tíiis coinpany, although 87j per-
ccnt dircctly and indircctly owncd w ithin the Group. has
not been consólidated in the Group accounts' to datc. We
■'<\\ Reorganúatios
' I do not think that anyone can sit still and
hopefor the best in tlie financial world of to-day.
It was becausc of this togefher with the increasing
sizeand cqmplexity of our business-that we
started our management reorganisation, which I
menlioned iast year, In banking, the old patterns
have quite definitely broken and we are now part of
a world-wide industry vvith an accelerating pácc of
ehangeand devclopment. None of uscan tell with
any certainty whal new structurcand competitive
shape will emerge in banking over the next ten
years. We rcmain a very personal business, and we
: have done our best to strengthen and continue this
personal Connection by the establtshmem of a
Financtal Services Division, wtjjch will tejpg'uj, wik
customers find their way througn the wtStte cange/*'
of qur financjai actjyities. ^ ■
' ' / inteccnt years we have created a Property
Oepartmem with a tcam of highly qualified men
direcfly engaged on all types of property finance,
development, management and ínvcstment. in its
scopeit is probably unique in the Ctty of London.
This hasbeen another excellent vear for the
• department, and we now manage property assets
and devetopment projects-either forclients or
associáied.conipanies- valued at more than £100
miilipn, : .
Thc Abbey Life Property Bond Fund,
wbíchisctórmost important propertýclicnt, has
had anórher successfu I arid record ýear and shows
eyery prospect of continued growth. We have been
asked, atui have willingly agreed, to confine our
property bond investment managentent actiyities
tothisfund.
Hambros Ltd.
Consofidated Finaocial Statement
as at 31st March 1971
s* 448 ■*
Paid-ra Capital and Rcserves
L.oan Capital
Minoritv Shareholders Inlerest m
Subsidiarie*
Current, Deposit and othec Creditor
Accounts
Proposed Finai Divídends
Acceptances for Customcrs
Casii, Batances with Ranks, Moncjr
at Call and Bullion
Bills dLscountcd and Bank
Certilicates of Deposit
Term loans to Banks and Local
Authorilies
Government and other Securities
Advancjs and other Debtor Accounts
Custoniers’ liability for Acceptances
Investments
Goodwilí on Consolídation
£
31,85«,000
17,794,000
9,220,000
597,302,000
1,112,000
72,755,000
£730,041,000
Dividends Paid and Proposed
Retaincd Profits
PROFIT FOR THE YEAR
71,647,000
9,637,000
199,627,000
44.929,000
299,060,000
72,755,000
28,311,000
' 4,075,000
£730,041,000
1,502,000
1,063,000
£ 2.565,000
thefatiorialisution ofthe Group. For this pprpose tlie
£1,750,000. We proposc to offer Hambros Limited
Ordinary shares of 25p each for this acqtiisitipn. Ðetails
of the number of shares to be issued and terms of the
bffer will bé given as soon as.possible.
We are very pleased to wcleomc Mr, Nórmán."
D’Arcv to the main Board of Hambros L.imited. For
many ycars he hasmanagcd a group.of Canadian
investment companies. among theiriá'qtioted Investment
Trust called Anglo-Scandinavianinyestment
Corporation, based in Toronto.We had helda substantial
interest in thiscontpany but were not direetly inyblved iu
its management before this year when we increased our
holding to 65 pcr cent, making it a stibsidiary of the
Círoup. We liave ehanged its name to Hambi o
Corporation of Canada and plan to use ilasa inaior
investment vehiele with theaim of providing áll forms of
financiaj, service in Canada except domestic banking, ,lts
acíivities arc exoccted to include venturc caoitál. soecial
i uijv ní*> >ibu aiiotuci successiui ycai anu nas viriuany
doubled iis profi's. HABAT hás just opened a hranch in
Paris houseci by our good friends Banque dc TLhiion
Europeenne in the Rtue Gaulon.
International Growlh
We are. ai;d wiil remain, truiy international. Our
staff, from secrctaries to Boárd members, is a mixlure ol
ntariy nationaliiies. anc the rnajority of our business is
tránsacted in currenci ;s other thán stetiing. Weare
strongly esiablished in the rnain itadingand rtnancing
areascf íhe wórld: ín North America, with thesolid liasc
of Hamoro Arrie-t. an bark &TrustCo. and Hambro'
Corpoi-atipn ot Canáda; in Continentai Europe through
Hambrc iri'.ernatioria! N.V.; in the L'.K titrough
Hambros Bank; and I expect 10 havenews on the fourth
great trading area of the worid -the Paeific-wlieri I next
;: report. We are activein most areas of financíal enterprise;
i banking in aii itsTonns, investmem banking anu funds
management, lcasingi propertý, bufápn and gems.
The Future
1 look forward with confidcnce to thecoming yeai'.
I said earlier that we.live-in a rapidly chariging Husinéss
and bánkingenvironment, and I am sure that the Group
is strongly plaeed to take advamage of these
41 Bishopsgate, London EC2P 2AA
Copies of the Annual Report can be obtained
from The Secrctary, Hambros Ltd„ 41 Bishopsgate,
l .ondon EC2P 2AA. \
.vi^-íGvwl-.v.-JiXvXi