FINANCE
W A L L STUEET OF €UEHilS¥il¥ C o m m e r c i a l Solvents C o r p . i m p r o v e s earnings outlook w i t h increased diversification, industrial a n d consumer buying, and sales effort
Γ'ϋΜΜκκι «AJ_ Solvents Corp. paid a 25^ cent dividend per share of common stock Oct. 4, for tiie third quarter of 1950. The company's business has taken a sharp upturn in this quarter due to an accelcratt-d rate of industrial and consumer buying and company sales effort. An important factor in agricultural chemicals. Commercial Solvents has de cided to convert a portion of anhydroits ammonia production at the 65.000-ton Sterlington. La., plant to nitrogen solutions early in 1951. Additional facilities for ben zene hexachloride production will be com pleted during November, thus increasing capacity by one third. Construction of an insecticide plant for lindane will also be started shortly. Among other agricultural chemicals are feed supplements and ribo flavin, by-products of fermentation processes. CSC is perhaps the only agricultural company which offers a complete product diversiBcation—fertilizers, feed supple ments, and insecticides—to farmers. Plans to market several new pharmaceu tical products have been completed, and increased amounts of penicillin, bacitracin.
and other pharmaceuticals will be pro vided shortly as a result of expansion of antibiotic facilities. Much of the research which is aimed at infectious and degen erative diseases has been carried out un der a medical department. The industrial chemical division pro duces methanol, ethyl alcohol, and butyl alcohol, the latter two by fermentation processes. High prices for molasses and corn, raw materials for the higher alcohols, increased amounts of penicillin, bacitracin, and lower prices in 1949 for alcohol re duced profit margins for these products. The situation has improved lately and pro duction of larger quantities of butyl alco hol was reported by the company. Antifreezes, both methanol and glycol types, and bulk whisky and neutral spirits are bulwarks in the product lines. Among other chemicals may be included the nitroparaffins, Dilan, an insecticide developed from mtroparaffins, and pentaerythritoL Thermatomic Carbon Co.. producer of carbon blacks, is an important affiliate of Commercial Solvents. A 5 0 ^ interest in Commercial Molasses Corp. was sold in June 1949. and Solvents also disposed of
fffy%£ é&&& N E
Factage/
— in t h e center of rapidly e x p a n d i n g markets and increased industrial activity*. G R D A offers most of d i e services and components y o u need in manufacturing. — Hydro
SPIt p
fÎ0r>
Electric
Power
te ρ by Steam—Plenty
mm
ass
xndTreated
Water—Process
Trackage—Fire sirable Plant
Plant location
firmed
of both
Ran· Steam
Protection—de
Locations. experts have
scribed G R D A ' s offering
de
as pos-
§ ^ sxbly u n i q u e in the nation, as a „! complete
" p a c k a g e " and
an ex-
cremrtv economical one.
GRDA is prepared to make its facilities available to in dustry at extremely low rates- N o profit is sought other than that which will accrue indirectly to Oklahoma. Write for this new hook. man? unusual advantages
It giz-es in considerable detail the offered industry hy the GRDA.
G R A N D RIVER D A M A U T H O R I T Y VINITA, OKLAHOMA M AGEXCr C f IMS STATE Of CX&AMCMA
3642
CHEMICAL
a 17r/r interest in the stock of Pacific Molasses Co., Ltd. Solvent's earnings are believed to have taken an upward turn since the middle ot this year after a steady decline since the 1947 peak. Much of the expenditure for research, currently amounting to 5% of sales, is coming home to roost in the form of new products. The diversification thus gained is to the great advantage of the company, as profits have hinged im portantly upon industrial alcohol and mo lasses prices. Texas & a s Report Voted Best in G a s Industry Texas Gas Transmission Corp.'s finan cial report for 1949 has been voted the best in the natural gas industry according to an announcement by the judges of the Financial World survey. T h e "Oscar of Industry" trophy will be presented to Texas Gas vice presidents, W. T . Stevenson and W. M. Elmer, at the awards banquet on Oct. 30. Koppers t o Acquire 2 2 % of Eastern Gas' N e w Common The Securities and Exchange Commis sion has authorized Koppers Co., Inc., to acquire 563,347 shares, or 22% of the new common stock of its subsidiary, East ern Gas & Fuel Associates, a preliminary to separating the two companies. Koppers is entitled to this much new Eastern Gas stock under Eastern's recapi talization plan, since Koppers owns 1,551,878 shares of the present Eastern Gas common stock and 50,180 shares of East ern cumulative preferred stock. The plan provides for exchanging six shares of new common for each share of preferred outstanding and 0.169 share of new common for each share of old com mon. Under the new order, Koppers must dispose of all the new common stock it acquires and thus sever its relationship with Eastern. Smîih, Kline & French H o l d e r s Vote 2 - f o r - l Stock Split Stockholders of Smith, Kline & French Laboratories have approved an increase in authorized common stock to 2 million shares, par $1.00, from 1 million no-par shares. Approval of the capital increase will be followed by a split of the common on a two-for one basis. Stockholders also approved an amendment to the articles of incorporation giving the hoard of directors power to issue all or any part of the authorized but unissued stock at any time without obtaining prior approval of stockholders. The management stated that it has no present plans to issue or sell any of these shares. The board of directors of Hercules Powder Co. has declared a regular quarterly dividend of 1.25%, equal to $1.25 a share on its preferred stock, payable Nov. 15 t o stockholders of record Nov. 1. AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
