Ford Abroad

Though all the stock of Ford Motor Co. is owned by Father Henry and Son Edsel, there are still numerous ways of investing in the most magical name in motordom. Frenchmen speculate in Ford, Societe Anonyme, Germans in Ford Motor Co. A. G., Spaniards in Ford Motor Iberica Dutchmen in N. V. Nederlandsche Ford Automobielfabriek. In the U. S. there are two Ford stocks traded on the New York Curb Exchange--Ford Motor Co. of Canada and Ford. Motor Co., Ltd., the British unit whose -L- shares are bought & sold as "depositary certificates."

Henry Ford has yet to file his balance sheets with certain State officials, only source of Ford figures. But a strong hint of which way the Ford wind blew in 1934 came last week when Ford of Canada reported the first profit since 1930--$1,878,000 as contrasted with a $620,000 loss in 1933, a $5,200,000 loss in 1932. Bigger in assets ($56,000,000) and in sales (48,900 units last year) than many an independent U. S. motor company, Ford of Canada is supposed to be about 50% owned by Henry Ford. Lately it has been reported that Mr. Ford's interest has declined below actual voting control but the board is dominated by Ford men, who have only to cross the Detroit River to East Windsor, Ont. to say their say.

With Henry Ford so near, Ford of Canada's President Wallace R. Campbell might as well be right in the Dearborn offices. But the other leading representative of Ford abroad lives and works in reasonable independence. Sir Percival Lea Dewhurst Perry, the precise, erect, hard-driving chairman of Ford of England, is really Mr. Ford's General European Manager. On his board sit men like the Baron Illingworth of Denton, P. C., and Sir John Thomas Davies, K. C. B., C. V. O., but Sir Percival takes his orders from Dearborn, where rests Ford of England's stock control.

Ford of England used to own 60% of the stock in each of the Continental Ford companies, the other 40% having been offered to citizens of the respective countries of incorporation. In the last year, however, the parent company is understood to have sold all its holdings in Ford of Germany and some stock in Ford of France. Losses realized on these sales are reported to account for the fact that Ford of England's profits of about $2,400,000 last year were lower than in 1933. But Sir Percival's territory remains all of Europe, the Near East and North Africa. Ford of Canada has virtually all of the British Empire except Egypt and the British Isles. And what remains of the world is taken care of by Henry Ford himself.

At its great plant at Dagenham, Ford of England makes a Ford all its own--a smallish 8-h. p. car designed to circumvent high British automobile taxes. Ford of England used to buy its standard size models from Ford of Canada, lately has begun to turn out British-made V-8's.

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