§ Mr. Rookerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many companies have been given consent to declare dividends in excess of the statutory limits in each of the past five years; what were the reasons for the consents; and what were the amounts involved.
§ Mr. Denzil Davies:The information requested is set out in the table below using the same form as that given for the four-year period ended December 1977 in answer to a similar Question from my hon. Friend on 9th January 1978—[Vol. 941, c. 624.] The opportunity has been taken to include some small revisions.
In addition, a number of other companies—mainly on the occasion of raising new money for investment—were told by the Treasury in 1978 that consent would be given subject to certain conditions when they came to declare their dividends, but the consents will fall in 1979.
Over the whole period, the Treasury has given release from the controls to 54 companies on the grounds that their operations are almost wholly overseas, under provisions first introduced by the Treasury announcement of 20th October 1975.
The total number of companies involved is lower than the total number of consents given, as some companies have had more than one consent since 1st April 1973.
The amount of total United Kingdom dividends for 1978 given in the table is not yet final.
869W
870W871W
1973(9months) 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 Total Percentage of aggregate Percentage of aggregate Percentage of aggregate Percentage of aggregate Percentage of aggregate Percentage of aggregate Percentage of aggregate Number increase Number increase Number increase Number increase Number increase Number increase Number increase Ground set out in Section III of Cmnd. 5444—paragraphs 13–20 Takeover defence 5 7.7 12 3.3 3 4.0 4 1.4 14 7.9 7 2.7 45 4.3 Consequential adjustments for increases in share capital e.g. conversion of stock 50 5.9 26 10.7 18 8.6 29 6.2 25 6.3 6 0.3 154 4.8 Recoveries 237 54.4 216 53.4 127 61.6 170 45.9 148 30.6 112 10.2 1,010 32.4 No previous dividend declaration Nil — 3 1.5 1 0.7 3 0.1 2 — 1 0.1 10 0.3 Reconstructions etc 9 2.4 18 12.7 8 4.6 4 0.4 3 1.7 5 2.5 47 3.3 Pre-1972 commitment 39 21.5 5 7.9 Nil — 1 0.1 Nil — Nil — 45 2.7 Other dividend forecasts, all associated with raising new money for investments, mainly rights issues Nil — 16 9.3 15 18.2 99 45.3 74 53.5 95 77.7 299 49.0 Minority shareholdings Nil — Nil — Nil — Nil — Nil — Nil — Nil — Other grounds not given as example in paragraphs 13–20 of Cmnd 5444 Anomalies and technicalities arisingfrom changes in ACT, the permitted rate of increase and other rules of the controls 10 9 2 5 Nil Nil 26 Consents to meet provisions of other legislation 2 8.1 Nil 1.2 Nil 2.3 Nil 0.6 Nil — Nil — 2 1.0 Consents to declare but not to pay above the limit 1 2 1 1 1 1 7 Cover provisions Nil — Nil — Nil — Nil — Nil — 15 6.5 15 2.2 353 100 307 100 175 100 316 100 267 100 242 100 1,660 100 (a) Excess dividends allowed (£000's) 19,011 25,900 10,640 36,526 50,819 75,003 217,899 (b) Total United Kingdom dividends (£000's) 1,360,000 1,746,000 1,906,000 2,151,000 2.612,000 2,703,000 12,478,000 (a) as a percentage of (b) 1.40 1.48 0.56 1.70 1.95 2.77 1.75