§ Mr. Rookerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many companies have been given permission to pay dividends over the statutory limits in each of the past four years.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesThe information is set out in the table below which also gives the reasons for the consents and the amounts involved as was given for 1976 in answer to a Parliamentary Question on 22nd April 1977.
A number of other companies—mainly on the occasion of raising new money for investment—were told by the Treasury in 1977 that consent would be given subject to certain conditions when they came to declare their dividends, but the consents will fall in 1978.
The Treasury has given release from the controls to 52 companies on grounds that their operations are almost wholly overseas under provisions first introduced with the Treasury announcement of 20th October 1975.
The total number of companies involved is lower that the total number of consents given, as some companies have had two consents since 1st April 1973.
The amount of total United Kingdom dividends for 1977 given in the table is not yet final.
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1973 (9 months) 1974 1975 1976 1977 Total Number rage of consents Percen of aggre gate increase Number Per cent. Number Per cent Number Percent. Number Per cent. Number Per cent. Ground set out in Section III at Cmnd. 5444—paragraphs 13–20 Takeover defence … … … … … 5 7.6 12 3.4 3 4.6 4 1.5 12 5.4 36 4.3 Consequential adjustments for increases in share capital, e.g. conversion of loan stock … … 50 5.8 26 10.9 16 7.9 27 5.2 28 7.9 147 7.5 Recoveries … … … … … … 234 54.8 219 53.2 116 63.2 166 42.2 160 30.55 895 42.9 No previous dividend declaration … … … Nil — 3 1.5 1 0.3 3 0.1 2 0.05 9 0.3 Reconstructions, etc. … … … … … 10 2.3 18 12.7 7 4.6 6 1.1 3 1.8 44 3.9 Pre 1972 commitment … … … … 39 21.5 5 7.8 Nil — 1 0.1 Nil — 45 4.3 Other dividend forecasts, all associated with raising new money for investment, mainly rights issues … Nil — 16 9.4 10 18.5 102 49.1 73 54.3 201 34.9 Minority shareholdings … … … … Nil — Nil — Nil — Nil — Nil — Nil — Other grounds not given as example in paragraphs 13–20 of Cmnd. 5444 Anomalies and technicalities arising from changes in ACT, the permitted rate of increase and other rules of the controls … … … … 10 8.0 9 1.1 1 0.9 5 0.7 — — 25 1.9 Consents to meet provisions of other legislation … 2 — — — — 2 Consents to declare but not pay above the limit … 1 2 1 1 1 6 351 100.0 310 100.0 155 100.0 315 100.0 279 100.0 1,410 100.0 (a) Excess dividends allowed (£000's) … … … 19,306 25,459 9,686 32,707 49,940 137,098 (b) Total United Kingdom dividends (£000's) … … 1,360,000 1,693,000 1,837,000 2,149,000 2,541,000 9,580,000 (a) as a percentage of (b) … … … … 1.42 1.50 0.53 1.52 1.96 1.43