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in South Virginia and North Carolina and employing some
60,000 workers had reported that its civilian order
position was half what it was a year ago and production
had been curtailed by 16%; the company had only been
able to maintain production because of U.S. Government
military purchases. But it had had to cut back on its
re-equipment programme and stood to face further losses
if the Vietnam war should end.
61.
Sir Eugene Melville thanked Mr. Nehmer for the
detailed information but asked whether any general assessment
of profitability of the textile industry had been made.
He noted that a survey in the U.K. had shown that at any
one time about one third of the textile industry was
operating at a loss. But this did not mean that the industry
as a whole was unprofitable.
62.
Mr. Nehmer admitted that in general the public
companies did not show losses. He had some figures which
showed that in textiles average profits after taxes in the
first quarter of this year were 7.2%. This was higher than
for 1968 and 1967 although lower than for 1965 and 1966.
In apparel, the average profit was 10.3% in the first
quarter of this year. This was lower than last year but
higher than 1967. Overall profits in the textile and
apparel industry were lower on average than the profits
in all industry as a whole. Sales had shown similar
/fluctuations
CONFIDENTIAL