Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 21, 1969, Winnipeg, Manitoba Saturday june 21, 1969 business finance is business w r a p u Pirn National Trust profits up Toronto up National Trust co. Ltd. Had met profit of or 62 cents a share in the six months ended april 30, compared with or 57 cents in the similar period a year ago. Announcing the results the company also said it will increase the interest paid on its special savings accounts to per cent from six effective july 1. It said savings deposits for the six month period Rose to from while total guaranteed accounts increased to estates trusts and agencies Rose to from Oil and Gas leases sold Edmonton up the Alberta government has received for the Sale of Petroleum and natural Gas leases. A total of 19 sales was made with the largest offer from Joe Phillips Ltd. For 640 acres about 45 Miles South of Edmonton. Central Del Rio oils Ltd. Bid for acres about 65 Miles Northeast of Edmonton. The third largest bid was received from Mobil Oil Canada Ltd. And Pembina pipe line Ltd. For 640 acres about 70 Miles Northeast of Edmonton. The accepted offer was Copper firm s earnings up Vancouver up Bethlehem Copper corp. Ltd., of Vancouver reports earnings of 35.8 cents per for its first Quarter ended May 31, an increase of two cents a share Over the same period last year. Net profit was compared with 010 in 1968. Concentrate Revenue was an increase of average daily tonnage of Mill feed was a quarterly dividend of 121, cents has been authorized for payment. Bethlehem s major operation is a Copper property in production near Ashcroft . Joint venture planned Tokyo a Toyo Kogiyo co. Of Japan and Curtiss Wright corp., of the United states plan to establish a joint venture in the United states to develop and produce rotary Piston engines says Toyo Kogiyo. A Toyo Kogiyo official said the joint venture would make the engines not Only for aircraft but also for automobiles and boats. Profit for mining company Vancouver up Bralove Pioneer mines Ltd. Showed a consolidated net profit of for 1968, following a loss in 1967 of states the Vancouver based company in its annual report. Bralorne Pioneer operates a Gold mine in the Bridge River area of British Columbia. The report said Ore reserves at dec. 31 stood at tons with an average Grade of .49 ounces of Gold per ton. Made Iii Manitoba can hamper sales each Block weighs 40 pounds. By Sheldon Bowles buying Manitoban is great idea the Only trouble is that it just does t seem to work out in practice. That s the experience of Winnipeg businessman Harry Meronek president of mar will industries Ltd. And vice president of Aero foam chemicals Ltd. The worst part of it is that the biggest offenders Are local both provincial and municipal govern ments says or. Meronek. But while Public officials in Manitoba Are reluctant to use Manitoba made pro ducts they seem to feel that if it is made in Manitoba it is somehow inferior to a product made elsewhere or. Meronek says part of the blame belongs with business itself. In a lot of cases we can t blame the government be cause Industry has t made a real Effort to sell its products to local govern or. Meronek s closest Contact with Selling Mani Toba made goods to local government s comes through Aero foam Chemi cals a company in which he is associated with Mark Smerchanski Winnipeg entrepreneur geologist Mem Ber of parliament and corporation executive. Aero foam produces a polystyrene foam which is used for everything from insulating Homes through false wedding cakes you just Cut it round and cover with icing to Gigantic Sta tues like the Viking at Gimli or the steer along Side the packing plants in St. Boniface. One of or. Meronek s toughest Battles has been to get his product specified by architect. Recently his firm lost a contract for insulating material for a school in an area where or. Meronek has his Plant to an out of province manufacturer be cause the architects had specified the competitor s product. We be worked pretty hard to get our material known and specified where we feel our material would do a Good Job. One area where we have had a Good Deal of Success is in roofing but Only to wind up losing a lot of business in this school Issue to a company bringing in insulation from outside the province and giving the school a lower Quality material naturally at a somewhat lower although armed with statistics on density and strength to prove his mater Ial was a better buy Dollar for Dollar or. Meronek said he had had Little Luck in convincing the school Board that they should buy a local product. I be fought these Guys pretty strenuously and Mouth off at them but you asked or. Mer Onek. He answered his own question with a Jab of his Index Finger at the pile of papers on his desk which outlined the details of a lost school contract. A lot of businesses could employ a lot More people if they were Only better understood by people in the polystyrene foam blocks Are fused with steam heat. Government and in said or. Meronek. While the company has had i t s disappointments sales Are booming with the firm s Square foot Plant currently operating two shifts and indications Are that the double production will continue for some time. We have found that once we were Able to get to the right people in other words the people who make the decisions we got Good or. Meronek set up his polystyrene foam Plant in 1961 with or. Smerchanski after being turned Down by the Manitoba development fund and the Banks for capital to Start the business. The development fund wanted me to put up Dollar to Dollar with them. I did t have the Money All i had was the knowledge of How to make this thing said or. Meronek who holds a degree in chemical engineering. Once 1 got tied up with Mark Smerchanski though everything was alright. When i went to the Bank to get Money the tact that i was going into business with Mark was Good enough for them and i got the for the first few years the firm did t turn a profit but now the business is firmly established and be ginning to make Money. The first year or two in any business you will lose Money but at the end of that period you should be breaking even and it will take five years before you Are breaking even after pay ing for your first said or. Meronek. In making the polystyrene foam the company uses raw material brought in the form of Small plastic pellets in Larae Drums. These pellets react to steam heat and puff up to Many times their original size. Stored for 24-hours, these Fluffy soft pellets Harden and Are then placed in Large Drums. Once again they Are exposed to heat which fuses them together. Released from the form the Large blocks of Aero foam Are shaved drilled and sawed into final form. By turning the beads of plastic into foam and then through further processing. You end up with a fused homogeneous mass full of millions of minute empty spaces. This makes a wonderful insulation and it has great said or. Meronek. The Aero foam Plant with 13 employees including a staff of three salesmen headed by sales manager Ted Paulson is the Only Plant in Manitoba producing polystyrene foam. Photos by Dave Johnson from the Mould the blocks of polystyrene foam Are Cut into panels. Business Outlook by All nations would feel . Recession Brussels do you feel Uncertain about the Power of the United states in the world do the frustrations in Vietnam instill doubt about american influence if so come to Belgium Here you get a sense of America s awesome economic strength almost too much for any nation to Bear. Can the . Possibly live up to belgian expectations recent events notably the jump of interest rates to 13 per cent in the eurodollar Market suggest that it has t. Fernand Collin. Philosophic and outspoken chair Man of the Krediet Bank third largest commercial Bank in Belgium tells Why after the second world War . Economic and Fin Ancial experts said to us europeans Don t finance government spending with the printing press. If you do you la have inflation but has the open Market policy of the . Federal Reserve system in recent years been any be continues the . Has been drunk for a Long time. Therefore it will take a Long time and much patience and courage to regain a Clear head. Lot of people will be screaming because they fear a . Recession. But today Money everywhere is chasing goods. People Dis Trust Money. This has to be when m. W. Holtrop was president of the Netherlands National Bank a few years Back he berated the United states for exporting inflation to Europe. The Persis t e n t . Balance of pay ments deficit flooded the world with what or. Collin describes As us class but now the world wide monetary squeeze fostered by tight Money in the United states has made those useless dollars very much wanted dollars. Baron Philippe Snoy pronounced the temperate and thoughtful belgian finance minister feels that the United states today exports High interest As the result Bel Gium has imported problems not of its own making. Suction by . Banks of s10 billions out of the euro Dollar Market has demonstrated America s financial Power. Says Pierre Andre chief of the foreign department of the National Bank of Bel Gium the euro Dollar Market has compromised the autonomy of Central to defend the belgian Economy against this . Drain the National Bank has had to boost the Dis count rate from 3% per cent Treasury Bills auctioned Ottawa up new 91-Day government of Canada Treasury Bills auctioned at an average Price and yield of 98.257 and 7.11 per cent. Last weak same amount and term 98.265 and 7.08 per cent. 182-Day at 96.517 and 7.24 per cent. Last week same amount and term 96.513 and 7.25 per cent. To 6 per cent within 15 months. And belgian government Bonds have jumped in yield to to per cent the highest rate in about 50 years since after the first world War. The belgian government not been master of its own House. When Industrial activity was sluggish compared to that of the ., Germany and Holland an expansionist policy was decreed. Credit was made plentiful and cheap. But not for Long. Washington s tight Money program aborted belgian Progress. Belgian Commer Cial Banks converted belgian francs into dollars. Then they Lent those dollars at attractive rates of interest in the eurodollar Market scalping profits of 3 per cent and 4 per cent. This drained the monetary reserves of the National Bank. To Raymond Barre. Vice president for economic affairs of the common Market. A Paramount problem in the Western world today is the United states it must avoid a recession. Yet it must also Check its internal inflation and reduce its balance of payments deficit. Says Barre we must restore a better equilibrium Between growth and rising prices in All countries. It will be necessary to pay for laxity for the errors of recent years. To think otherwise is to live in a fool s Paradise. We will have some sort of Industrial slowdown in the . And the world. But it is essential not to have a turndown a with this. Baron Snoy is in Accord the . Has a great capacity. It has the Means to Correct your inflationary fever. I Don t expect a crisis in the . I Don t think a slowdown will get out of the control of your authorities. We in Belgium would feel a . Recession. All nations would. International Trade would decline. There d be danger of increased unemployment. Therefore the . Must do everything possible to avoid a races thus does the Western world Pivot around the . Economy. Abroad you would have to be deaf and Blind not to feel . Power influence and affluence ;