The Employees’ Council met six times in
1974. A great many issues were the sub
ject of a fruitful and purposeful
consultation. Among other things, the
Managing Board sought advice about its
intention to enter into a permanent co
operation with the Amfas Groep N.V. in
respect of the running of the business of
the Makelaarskantoor Gemako B.V.
This plan, to which the Employees’
Council agreed unanimously, was carried
out early in 1975. In view of the elections
for a new Employees’ Council to be held
in 1975, it was decided not to fill a
vacancy caused by the retirement of one
of the members elected.
In the course of 1974, Mr. N. Snijders
resigned as member of the Managing
Board.
On 1st August respectively 15th
September 1974, Mr. J. Eimers, holder of
procuration at our Groningen office, and
Mr. O. Feenstra, holder of procuration at
our The Hague office, left our service
after having been in the employment of
our Group for 42 and over 37 years
respectively. We would express our grate
fulness to both gentlemen for past
services during a great many years.
Our Enschede office was transferred on
1st February 1974 and is now located 131,
Klanderij, Enschede. With effect from
that date, Mr. L. J. ten Haaf was appointed
as manager of this office. This establish
ment continues to be under the
organisational control of our Arnhem
office.
At the end of 1974 Mr. W. Knoppers and
Mr. A. Strating retired as managing
directors of Van Haften Co. N.V. In
view of this, Mr. K. H. A. van Arem was,
with effect from 1st December 1974,
appointed as managing director of this
company. Through his appointment as
supervisory director, with effect from 1st
January 1975, Mr. W. Knoppers remains
connected with Van Haften Co. N.V.
Financial report and operating income
Since both the production of mortgage
loans and the redemptions in 1974 were
higher than in the previous year (on
balance resulting in an increase in the
mortgages portfolio of an amount of
ƒ218 million) interest and commission in
come rose again and that by ƒ6 million
over the financial year 1973.
On the other hand, expenses increased by
ƒ1.7 million, while the backservice for
pensions required again a higher amount,
namely 2.5 million against ƒ1.5 million in
the previous financial year. On balance
the gross profit rose from ƒ23.5 million in
1973 tot 26.7 million in 1974.
Pre-tax profit of our real estate business
was 6.9 million against 5.9 million in
1973. The increase of ƒ1 million is mainly
accounted for by higher sales results. An
amount of ƒ8.6 million, representing book
profits on sales of old real estate holdings,
was entered on the replacement reserve,
whilst an amount of 1.3 million was
added to the provision for contingent tax
obligations.
A start was made in 1974 with building up
a provision for the purpose of a better
spread of the costs of periodical
maintenance. Every year, to the debit of
the profit and loss account an amount will
be added to this provision which is
computed on the basis of the costs of the
various maintenance works and the
frequency of these works. On the other
hand, the real maintenance expenses will
be charged to the provision.
As already stated above, a provision for
unoccupiedness of newly built projects, to
the amount of ƒ5.5 million, was formed to
the debit of the profits of the real estate
companies for 1974.
The securities business sustained a loss of
ƒ0.4 million in 1974, against a profit of
0.1 million in 1973. This was caused by
the extremely unfavourable situation of
the stock market, as a result of which
