Argus Stock Appears on Big Exchange

Argus Stock Appears On Big Exchange

Mayor Brown Buys First Shares; Price Up 75 Cents

(Special To The News)

NEW YORK—Today was Argus Cameras day on Wall St.

The Ann Arbor, Mich., company, which is also marking the 25th anniversary of its founding, moved 443,979 outstanding common shares today from the American Stock Exchange, where they were listed in 1937, to the New York Stock Exchange.

Argus made its official bow on the “big board” here at 10:10 a.m., when 100 shares appeared. The price was $26.75 a share—up .75 cents from the closing price Friday afternoon on the American Stock Exchange.

Mayor William E. Brown, jr., of Ann Arbor, who placed his order for the stock late Friday afternoon, bought the first 100 shares.

Brown’s order for AGU, which is the stock symbol for Argus on the New York board, was transmitted through Watling, Lerchen & Co. in the Ann Arbor Trust Co. building in Ann Arbor to New York. Joseph M. Hinshaw, jr., Watling - Lerching’s floor member on the Exchange, brought it to Irving H. Burnside of I. H. Burnside & Co., specialist firm, at Post 6 on the trading floor.

Hinshaw bought the 100 shares for Brown, telephoning the price to his office at White Weld & Co., here, from where the price was telegraphed to Watling’s Ann Arbor office. The entire process took only three minutes.

Arriving here from Ann Arbor early last night were Argus officials Robert E. Lewis, president; Clinton H. Harris, vice-president in charge of engineering; Dudley J. Scholten, vice-president and director, of sales and advertising; Joseph H. Det-weiler, vice-president and treasurer; and Martin H. Breighner, secretary.

Greeted At Exchange

Around 9:30 a.m. today, they were greeted on the sixth floor of the Exchange building by John Case and Arthur Rauch, assistant directors of stock lists, and Edward Carlson, examiner of stock listings.

The party, accompanied by financial reporters for New York newspapers, was joined by G. Keith Funston, Exchange president, at Funston’s office, then entered the trading floor at 9:35 a.m.

Most members of the party carried Argus cameras.

Besides Argus, other stocks at Post 6 include American Can, Campbell Soups, General Electric, H. J. Heinz and Revere Copper & Brass.

At noon today, the Argus officials attended a special luncheon at the Wall St. Club here. More than 50 New York business and financial editors, reporters and commentators met the Argus spokesmen for exclusive interviews between a series of informal talks by Lewis, Harris, Scholten, Detweiler and Breiner. Lewis is well-known on Wall St., where for a time he was a business consulting engineer.

Describes Stock Ownership

Lewis told the luncheon gathering that directors and officers of Argus own more than 12% per cent of the outstanding common shares but no one individual owns more than 5 per cent of the common stock.

The only capital stock outstanding besides the common is a special issue of 2,000 shares of $5 cumulative preferred at $100 par, all owned by employees through their profit-sharing retirement fund, he declared.

Detweiler pointed out that the firm plans record capital outlays of $1,500,000 this year—most of this to be spent in retooling for new products. “Capital outlays this year will be 50 per cent greater than last year,” he said, adding that the outlay will require no outside financing because the company’s net working capital of $4,083,959 is the biggest in its 25-year history.

Scholten explained that the firm plans to invest more than $1,000,000 in national advertising. The company also plans promotional expenditures of about $500,000, he said, adding that “our retail structure of 7,000 franchised dealers and our own sales forces are the largest and best in our history.”