§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each year since 1953 the profitability of (a) all companies, (b) financial companies, (c) industrial and commercial companies and (d) manufacturing, on a current cost and on an historic cost basis.
§ Mr. John ButcherRates of return on capital are given for 1960 onwards for all industrial and commercial companies and for manufacturing companies. There are no comparable figures for financial companies nor, consequently, for all companies, nor for earlier years. Profits of financial companies, on a national accounts basis, are negative because they are before interest receipts and payments, but calculating their profitability on any other basis would raise severe conceptual and data problems.
39Wdifference at this level of aggregation.
‡ Gross trading profits from United Kingdom operations plus rent received less capital consumption at historic costs expressed as a percentage of net capital stock of fixed assets at historic costs (excluding land) plus book value of stocks in United Kingdom.