Jondlovure 1.
こ
35771
16
Hon. Attorney General,
The following is an abstract of the Prérét dia|
Losa accounts of Jebsen & Co's piece goods department for the
years 1910 to 1914:-
Year
1910
Turnover
$1,110,000
Gross Profit Expenses
Net Profit
$102,000
$60,000
$42,000
1911
560,000
40,000
40,067 10ss 67
1912
600,000
65,000
34,000
12,000
46,000
17,000
1913
860,000
93,000
$2,000
41,000
1914
929,000
(93,000)
(53,000)
(40,000)
The net profi te for any one year do not neces-
sarily represent the exact position as stocks are frequently
held over the year and their invoice value insorted in the
account, any less occurring when the goods are sold appearing
in the account of the year in which the goods are sold. The
above abstract however sufficiently accurately shows the
average profits and losses for a period of years.
It will be seen that the percentage of gross
profits to turnover in 1910, 1912, 1913, 1914 is roughly 10%; expenses vary between 5% and 7% of the turnover and net profits
vary accordingly between 5% and 3%. The loss in the year 1911
is clearly largely accounted for by the considerably reduced
turnover and the resulting high proportion (7%) of expenses to
turnover, expenses being in the case of salaries, office-rent,
etc. constant. The gross profits in this year work out at 7% as compared with the normal 10% of the turnover. This however
does not bear the interpretation that goods were sold deliber-
ately at or below cost. The books clearly do not disclose any
evidence of this but they do disclose a number of forced sales
at cost price due to failures of local buyers. I understand
that the year 1911 was an exceptionally bad one for trade. The arrival of a new manager of the piece goods department in this year may also have affected profits. It will be seen that the
year