Saturday, March 28, 2020

CPR 1915 Annual Report + a Shareholders' Meeting with COVID-19


Included are: The entire 1915 annual report, detail on CPR assets taken by the Admiralty 1914-1918, & how to meet in 2020!

This annual report measures 5.5 x 8 inches - compared to today's 8.5 x 11 inches. It comes from a bound volume of CPR annual reports 1914-1920 once held by the City Bank Farmers Trust Company, 22 William Street, New York. The volume was noted as being 'in machine' (perhaps microfilm?) in 1951. 

While I like to point out interesting aspects of a given artifact, there is so much in this old document that some readers will enjoy hours (of COVID-induced staying at home time) researching questions raised by it. 







from: The Spiral Tunnels and the Big Hill; Graeme Pole; 1995; Altitude Publishing.
Working with a dreadnought drill in the Rogers Pass (later: Connaught) tunnel.

from: Canadian Pacific Afloat 1883-1968; George Musk; 1968; Canadian Pacific.
Above: Empress of India - 1891-1914


Sir WC Van Horne died September 11, 1915 in Montreal and was buried at Joliet, Illinois.



As always, the uniform sizes of my 'taller' images
get scroogled up by the blogging software.

This document features a couple of very long fold-out lists.
I have tried to 'break' these at logical locations.

All images are named so you can save them if you desire.








The following two-page tangent lists wartime activities involving CPR shipping assets.

from: Canadian Pacific Afloat 1883-1968; George Musk; 1968; Canadian Pacific.

from: Canadian Pacific Afloat 1883-1968; George Musk; 1968; Canadian Pacific.

Back to the 1915 CPR Annual Report ...



*  *  *

From the just-arrived 2019 CPR Annual Report ...


For students of history, the new-found enthusiasm for a short-line through Maine to Saint John and tidewater may be of interest. I have combined two outer marginal segments from facing pages into this image. 




When you decide to have an Annual General Meeting but no one shows up ...


In this particular case, COVID-19 has precipitated a change to an on-line AGM and one wonders if some companies may never go back to in-person meetings to which all shareholders are invited. Most companies ensure that individuals have a legal right (shareholder) or a legitimate reason (e.g. a journalist, financial analyst) for attending the private AGM. 

... But what one can physically do with a table of people doing proxy-form screening and security personnel ... one can do even more effectively with an app!


'Non-registered shareholder'

Most small investors have their securities (segregated in their name by their on-line broker) stored in a central electronic registry in 'street name'. When a trade closes, the 'owner' of the shares changes from the beneficial owner's broker to the new owner's broker. 

In 'street name', until you need your shares, all kinds of fun and creative things can be done with them by the broker who 'owns' them (they can be borrowed from you for shorting, high-frequency/algorithmic trading etc) ... as long as you receive any dividends, get to vote, retain your right to dispose of the shares, etc.


'Registered shareholder'

This is can be imagined as the old paper-based system of share certificates. On your instructions, your broker would sell your shares at the stockmarket and by the standardized closing date, you would have to sign-over your share certificates at your broker's office.

The company's transfer agent (e.g. a trust company) would cancel your share certificates and take your (personal) name off the company's (e.g. CPR) share registry.

The new owner would have their name typed on the company's crisp, new, blank share certificates by the transfer agent, and they would pick them up from their broker for safekeeping at home or in a safety deposit box. With this system, it was necessary to type the number of shares purchased on the new certificate.

... oh, and the money ...

Just as you had to surrender your certificates on the standardized closing date, the buyer would have to provide cash to their broker to complete their purchase from you.

As recently as the late 1990s full-service brokerages charged small investors $100-200 commission for each transaction. A commission is sometimes also known as a 'rip'.

Today, major Registered Shareholders would often be people or corporations taking large stakes in a publicly-traded company. At a certain threshold (e.g. buying a defined percentage of the public shares in the market) their activity would be publicly reportable.
... For example, as Berkshire Hathaway was taking over BNSF to make it a private company, the event would be news which was 'material' to small investors. Small investors might choose to immediately sell in case the deal fell through and the stock dropped ... or to hold on to their shares in the hope that Warren Buffett raised his bid.
Smaller Registered Shareholders might include company officers or employees who are granted shares directly by the company as part of their compensation or 'profit sharing' plans.