Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

-Fox Year Net } of it Estimated $12,400,000 '': consolidated net profit, after all charges, of Ntieth Century-Fox Film Corporation and its ; , -.--controlled subsidiaries, including National re; Corporation and Roxy Theatres, Inc., for j t weeks ended December 30, 1944, is estimated ^'£400,000, an increase of $1,499,000 over the _M 'jus year. ■f ls is equivalent, after deducting dividends on ■ior preferred and convertible preferred stock, -Muring the year, to approximately $6 per share 4-te 1,771,364 shares of common stock outstand^tt December 30, 1944. T comparison of the 1944 report estimated with ips for 1943, follows: ■L Estimated 1944 Actual (53 Weeks) 1943 liHdated net profit before ■i eral taxes, minority inter X and contingencies $40,165,000 So8.153.000 1-(skm for Federal income and kss profits taxes 25,100,000 23.800.000 S15.065.000 S14.353.000 I ct net profit applicable to he final financial statement for the company for 4 is expected to be issued in the near future. ith-Fox Establishes Funds • Retire Preferred Stock he 20th Century-Fox board of directors has lorized the setting up of retirement funds for :mption of the prior preferred and convertible ferred stocks. Each year a specified percentage the fiscal net is put aside to buy the stock in open market, conditioned on a certain redempi price. If it is not possible to buy at the emption price, the prior preferred must be remed by lot within six months after the fund is up. On the convertible fund, the company not buy above the redemption price, which is 35. Western Electric Reports et of $13,857,704 Vestern Electric Company this week reported profit for fhe year ended December 31, 1944. $13,857,704, compared with $13,302,926 in 1943. tal gross income was $930,375,921 in 1944 as npared with $717,422,675 the preceding year, ited States Government business for the vear s S788,859,954 as compared with $596,112,017 1943. Total emplovment costs for 1944 were 5.864,159 and $250,155,741 the year before. Totaxes, excluding social security, were $88,893,in 1944 and $70,140,481 the previous year. sw Distributing Company inted; Casanave Principal "harles Casanave, independent film distributor. Xew York, will form a national distributing lanization comprising independent franchise holdformerly associated with Film Classics, the fs film industry heard this week. Incorporation >ers have been drawn, the report adds, and the mbers will have an aggregate of 800 theatres ler control. iskin Completes Navy Task iamuel Briskin, producer, has completed a :cial three-week assignment executed at the uest of the Secretary of the Navy. The assignnt concerned Navy production problems. General Aniline Sales Climb 24.7 Per Cent in 1944 The General Aniline and Film Corporation Monday reported sales of $73,311,178 during 1944, 24.7 per cent above 1943 and the highest in the history of the company. Among the company's products are film and other photographic materials, sensitized paper and films for the reproduction of drawings, and machines for finishing and developing these materials. It is best known for its dyestuffs. Operating profit before taxes increased more than 25 per cent to a record of $16,984,637, compared with $13,551,713 in 1943, while Federal taxes on income also reached a new high, climbing from S8.989.267 in the previous year to $12,123,000 in 1944. Net profit after taxes and provision of $1,000,000 for special accruals due to wartime operations was 34,813,276 or $6.57 per share of common A stock. This represented an increase of 18 per cent over revised net profit of $4,062,527, or $5.54 per share of the same stock in 1943. Excluding profit of $1,221,347 on sales of securities, the 1944 net profit was $3,591,929 or $4.90 per share as compared with $3,605,069 or $4.92 per share on a similar basis in 1943. The company is currently controlled by the Alien Property Custodian through his vesting of capital stock representing about 98 per cent of the voting power. From a gross income of $84,905,830 during the year ended December 30, 1944. the Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., earned a net profit of $4,678,361, compared with a gross of $75,166,440 and a net of $4,535,941 for 1943, Frank K. White, vice-president and treasurer, reported to the stockholders Monday. Provision for Federal income and excess profits taxes in 1944 was $8,250,000, compared with $7,575,000 in the preceding year. The net for the year represents $2.72 per share on the 1,717,076 shares of $2.50 par value stock outstanding, as compared with $2.64 per share during 1943 on a like number of shares. In a resume of the year's activities, Paul W. Kesten, executive vice-president, emphasized the preparation for and the handling of war news from all fronts. He pointed out that a total of 3,169 hours had been devoted to war broadcasting on standard wave lengths, embracing a total of 14,206 messages. Working with the Office of War Information and the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, the network delivered 40,510 hours of short-wave broadcasting with programs on 29 languages. Mr. Kesten reported a total of 369 television programs running 213 hours, which did not include 141 hours of test pattern broadcasting. Nor did the figure include "nearly 100 additional broadcasts of motion pictures." His comment on the post-war role of television is covered in an article on page 17. Admiral Sees Films Vital To War Production Rear Admiral C. H. Woodward, chief of the Navy's Industrial Incentive Division, forecasts that motion pictures showing equipment in battle action will play a vital part in meeting and beating urgently needed production schedules. "Wherever these pictures are shown," Admiral Woodward said, referring to Navy incentive films currently in distribution, "results have been most gratifying. Frequently decreasing absenteeism, and production correspondingly rises." He estimated that about 4,000 war plants and labor groups now are showing Navy incentive films, with more than 1,700,000 persons in attendance each month. The Navy incentive films are made from official combat footage which frequently never reaches the eyes of the general public because distribution is restricted exclusively to war workers. GPE Profit for Year $1,138,147; Expansion Seen Consolidated net income of General Precision Equipment Corporation for 1944, after provision of $2,866,700 for Federal income taxes and renegotiation, amounted to $1,138,147, compared with $1,255,907 in 1943, according to the annual report, issued Tuesday. The 1944 net income was equivalent to approximately $1.94 per share on 586,087 shares of capital stock outstanding, against $2.14 per share the previous year. Because of the amendment of the New York State franchise tax law requiring that liability for that tax be put on a current basis, the corporation charged against its 1944 earnings two years and 10 months of tax accrual, amounting to approximately $340,000 as against $122,000 which would have been charged formerly, thereby reducing net profit, after taxes, by about $146,000. Earle G. Hines, president of the company, points out in his letter to stockholders that this is a nonrecurring item and does not represent an increase in the tax rate. 20th-Fox Dividends Included Included in the stated income are dividends received by General Precision from its investment in common stock of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, amounting to $327,950, against $371,200 in 1943. During the year, the company sold 35,000 shares of Twentieth Century-Fox Film at a net average price of approximately $25 per share and applied the proceeds from the sale to the acquisition of two new subsidiaries, Ampro Corporation and Askania Regulator Company. The report shows the volume of the company's manufacturing activities to have increased during the year, net sales of all subsidiaries amounting to $24,096,904, compared with $20,964,525 in 1943. The business of distribution, installation and financing of film theatre equipment pursued by several subsidiaries of General Precision should expand rapidly after the war "because of growing obsolescence and pent-up demand," Mr. Hines said. Since the reorganization of the company in 1936, six new subsidiaries have been added to the six companies remaining in the original group. Outside of the industry, subsidiaries operate in the broad fields embracing "the use of optics, electronics, supersonics, hydraulic and electrical units. Company Subsidiaries Listed The subsidiaries of General Precision are: National-Simplex-Bludworth, Inc., New York: International Projector Corporation, New York; The Strong Electric Corporation, Toledo, Ohio; J. E. McAuley Manufacturing Company, Chicago ; The Hertner Electric Company, Cleveland; Ampro Corporation, Chicago; Cinesimplex Corporation, Syracuse, N. Y. ; Theatre Equipment Contracts Corporation, New York; Motion Picture Engineering Corporation, Chicago ; Bizzelle Cinema Supply Corporation, New York; Askania Regulator Company, Chicago, and Librascope, Incorporated, Burbank, Calif. The two divisions of National-Simplex-Bludworth are the National Theatre Supply Division and the Bludworth Cinema Supply Corporation. Minority stockholders and patent license interests are held by General Precision in Scophony Corporation of America, New York ; Panoramic Radio Corporation, New York; Electronbeam, Limited, Chicago ; and Henry Hughes & Son, Limited, London, England. Trans-Lux Reports Net of $199,104 for Year Net profit of Trans-Lux Corporation and whollyowned subsidiaries for the year ended December 31, 1944, was $199,104 compared with $140,514 the previous year. Net income from theatre operations was $378,165. Total net income before provision for taxes was $287,849. A dividend of 10 cents a share was declared last December. 1.765.000 ct net profit National Thea-s Corporation and its mbiaries to July 9. 1943, on ich date National became oily -owned ict provision for contir.ocies 1,433.000 S13.30O.0OO S12.920.000 2.019.000 900,000 $12,400,000 $10,901,000 CBS Net Rises; Executives Cite Network Gains 5TION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 31, 1945 49