§ Mr. Meacherasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the level of gross trading profits net of stock appreciation of commercial companies for each year since 1945; what was the equivalent for each year at 1979 prices; and what was the percentage annual increase or decrease.
§ Mr. BiffenThe available information is given in the following table. Estimates of the gross trading profits of industrial and commercial companies net of stock 457W appreciation are not available before 1955. There is no specific price index for converting figures for company profits to a constant price basis; but in order to give a broad indication of movements in profits in real terms the current price estimates have been converted to constant prices using the deflator underlying the Central Statistical Office's estimates of the year-to-year changes in the internal purchasing power of the pound. The latest period for which the deflator is available is May 1979 and the profits have therefore been expressed in terms of May 1979 prices.
GROSS TRADING PROFITS OF INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL COMPANIES NET OF STOCK APPRECIATION May 1979 prices Current prices £ million £ million Percentage change compared with previous year 1955 2,877 14,103 n.a. 1956 2,912 13,671 -3.1 1957 3,102 14,100 +3.1 1958 3,168 14,018 -0.6 1959 3,421 15,070 +7.5 1960 3,852 16,748 +11.1 1961 3,699 15,674 -6.4 1962 3,670 14,980 -4.4 1963 4,165 16,660 +11.2 1964 4,605 17,849 +7.1 1965 4,815 17,833 -0.1 1966 4,654 16,562 -7.1 1967 4,815 16,661 +0.6 1968 5,172 17,126 +2.8 1969 5,564 17,497 +2.2 1970 5,608 16,543 -5.5 1971 6,297 16,973 +2.6 1972 7,128 17,955 +5.8 1973 7,398 17,085 -4.8 1974 6,189 12,304 -28.0 1975 7,468 11,968 -2.7 1976 9,811 13,477 +12.6 1977 13,727 16,284 +20.8 1978 16,086 17,619 +8.2 Source: National accounts statistics.