Very profitable Guinness

The conversion of Guinness to a public company was very successful As was the company itself.

In 1890, Guinness made getting on for three-quarters of a million quid. A huge amount for the time.

"A. Guinness, Son & Co., Limited.
The directors’ report for the year ended June 30 last states:- “The results of the financial year, after making provision for bad debts, and including dividends on investments and interest on loans, show a profit of £719,665 9s. 9d. This, together with £25,641 15s. 11d. carried forward from the last account, makes a total of £745,307 5s. 8d. After providing for the debenture interest, the dividend on the preference stock, the balance of income tax, and the interim dividend paid in March on the ordinary stock, there remains available for appropriation the sum of £387,284 9s. 2d., as shown in the profit and loss account. The directors propose to apply this sum as follows:— To add £100,000 to the reserve fund and £30,000 to the depreciation fund; and, subject to the approval of the general meeting, to pay to the ordinary stockholders a final dividend of 9 per cent. for the half-year, making, wit the interim dividend of 6 percent. paid March 1 last, a total dividend for the year ended June 30, 1890, of 15 per cent., free of income tax. These payments will absorb £355,000, thus leaving a sum of £32,284 9s. 2d. to be carried forward to the next account. Sir Edward Guinness and the Hon. John Baring retire by rotation.

“Sir Edward Guinness has informed the board, to their great regret, that he cannot offer himself for re-election, as he finds some relief from work to be imperativer necessary. One of his main objects in the formation of the Company was to enable him to withdraw from the active supervision of a business requiring so large an amount of time and constant attention. All matters connected with the change from a private firm to a limited company have now been satisfactorily arranged, and as the Company is working successfully in every way,- Sir Edward feels confident that he can, without detriment to its interest, take the contemplated step of retiring from the management.""
"The Brewers' Guardian 1890", 1890, page 262.

I know Guinness sold around 1.3 million barrels in 1889. meaning they were making almost 11 shillings per barrel. Which is a pretty decent profit. And their sales were still increasing, as you can see from this table.

Guinness sales 1880 - 1890
	Extra Stout			Porter			other			total
Year	Britain	Ireland	total	Britain	Ireland	total	FES	Export	total	Britain	Ireland	FES/Export	total
1880	207,695	201,348	409,043	2,208	435,127	435,335	53,890	14,796	68,686	209,903	637,475	68,686	916,064
1881	204,073	201,546	405,619	1,686	465,190	457,586	54,739	14,053	68,792	205,759	657,736	68,792	932,317
1882	235,583	230,053	465,636	1,867	515,170	517,037	66,247	15,225	81,472	237,450	745,223	81,472	1,064,145
1883	227,572	201,007	425,579	854	407,681	408,535	57,154	11,817	68,971	228,426	608,688	68,971	906,085
1884	259,481	235,860	495,341	1,765	544,210	545,975	71,122	11,361	82,483	261,246	780,070	82,483	1,123,799
1885	260,488	237,584	495,072	1,923	597,594	599,517	74,538	10,947	85,485	262,411	835,178	85,485	1,183,074
1886	274,294	239,171	513,465	1,394	621,089	622,473	71,707	10,321	82,028	275,678	860,260	82,028	1,217,966
1887	290,501	245,547	536,438	1,274	659,725	660,699	74,501	9,634	84,135	291,775	905,572	84,135	1,282,576
1888	302,145	245,766	547,911	1,208	689,438	690,646	81,660	9,086	90,746	303,353	935,204	90,746	1,329,303
1889	308,223	243,337	551,560	1,054	690,453	691,507	80,690	9,837	90,527	309,277	933,790	90,527	1,333,594
1890	352,109	261,359	613,468	1,257	686,491	687,748	79,335	7,732	87,067	353,666	947,850	87,067	1,368,383
Source:
"A Bottle of Guinness please" by David Hughes, pages 276-279

Happy days for anyone lucky enough to have got hold of some Guinness shares. 15% is a very decent return. Of course, those ordinary shares would have been retained by the directors and family members,