Report of the Directors
The Directors have pleasure in submitting their annual report together with the audited statement of accounts for
the
year ended 31 December 1996.
Principal activities
The principal activity of the Company is the operation of franchised public buses in Hong Kong. The principal activities and other particulars of the Company's subsidiary at 31 December 1996 are set out in Note 10 on the
accounts.
Accounts
The profit of the Company and the Group for the year ended 31 December 1996 and the state of the Company's and the Group's affairs as at that date are set out in the accounts on pages 43 to 61.
An analysis of the results and financial position of the Group is set out on pages 21 and 22 of this Annual Report.
Dividends
An interim dividend of 24 cents per share was paid to the Shareholders on 10 October 1996. The Directors now recommend that a final dividend of 80 cents per share in respect of the year ended 31 December 1996 be paid to the Shareholders on 13 June 1997.
Charitable donations
Donations made by the Group during the year amounted to HK$1,724,000 (1995: HK$856,000).
Fixed assets
During the year, major additions of the Group were buses with total cost of HK$524,035,000 (1995: HK$474,438,000).
Other details of movements in fixed assets during the year are set out in Note 9 on the accounts.
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