JAS. H. OLIPHANT & CO.
earlier when a dollar was a dollar. With this understanding the
plants were given a net value of $93,261,000 in 1920. Today the
plants, increased by $23,759,000 additions in the past six years, are
carried net at $71,524,000, actually $21,737,000 less than the figure
of 1920. This speaks well for the integrity of the plant book
values. It is thus evident the asset value of $69.50 a share for
Allied Chemical common stock may be taken as most conservative.
Miscellaneous reserves ficure $9 a share on the common stock.
Those interested in Allied Chemical believe that the industries this
company represents are capable of important expansion in coming
years and this lends the speculative feature to its common stock.
The constituent companies are as follows: General Chemical Co.,
heavy acids; Barrett Co., coal tar products; Solvay Process Co.,
alkalis; Semet-Solvay Co., coke and by-products; and National
Aniline & Chemical Co., dyestuffs. The trite phrase, ‘‘the surface
has been barely seratched,’’ is believed to apply to the various fields
of industry here represented; as witness the company’s recently
announced plan for construction of a large plant for the fixation of
atmospheric nitrogen.
The constituent companies in the first half of 1920 (admittedly a
boom period) earned $22,382,000 before depreciation and taxes,
and this shows the possibilities of earning power inherent in
the properties under favorable trade conditions. The next phase
of Allied Chemical’s development could well be a ‘‘blossoming
forth’” of earning power, which with its already impregnable
treasury position would inevitably mean larger disbursements to
stockholders, the $6 basis (increased from $4 which had prevailed
since 1921) merely fulfilling the expectation of the original terms
of merger. The common stock of Allied Chemical & Dye Corpora-
tion represents a sound equity in a permanent basie industry.
Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Co.
Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Co. since reorganization in 1913
has shown steady progress financially and commercially until
today its common stock is a sound $6 dividend payer with $9-$10
a share annual earning power, in 1927 improved by the retire-
ment of $16,500,000 7% preferred stock through issue of $15,-
000,000 5% debenture bonds (saving amounting to $1.66 a share
on the common).
With a complete line of sawmill and flour-mill equipment (flour
milling business of Nordyke & Marmon, its chief competitor,
absorbed last year), erushing and compressing machinery, electrical
[121