A. B. Chance sets sales goal of $50 million

Chance Sales

Goal Set at

50 Millions

Company Hopes to

Reach Mark by 1966,

Stockholders Told

CENTRALIA - F. Gano Chance, president of the A. B. Chance Company, said at the firm's annual stockholders meeting here Saturday that the company has a long-range sales goal of $50,000,000 per year by 1966.

Reviewing the company's 1955 activity and its prospects as B supplier for the electric power and communications industries, Chance said, "I see no reason why we cannot reach this goal."

He explained that continuing growth will be fostered by the expansion of the electrical industry to meet the demand for power, by development of new products by Chance Company engineers, and "possibly" by the acquisition of other companies.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Chance Company has increased its sales rapidly in recent years— from $4,918,308 in 1952 to $18,957,528 in 1956. Chance has acquired seven other companies in the past 12 years and now has factories in 11 cities.

Armstrong to Board

Seventy-six per cent of the outstanding shares were voted at the meeting. William H. Armstrong, St. Louis attorney, was elected to the board and the other 10 board members were re-elected.

Armstrong is the third "outside" director added to the Chance board in the last four months. He is a partner in the St. Louis law firm of Cobbs, Armstrong, Teasdale and Roos, which he joined in 1927 after receiving his law degree from Harvard Law School.

He is a director of several other companies, including Minute Maid Corporation, New York City; American Insurance Company of Newark, N. J.; and the following St. Louis firms: KWK, Inc.; Security National Bank Savings and Trust Company; and Tobey Fine Papers, Inc.

Chance directors who were reelected are: R. E. Ausmus, Sr.; A. B. Chance, Jr.; F. Gano Chance; L. C. Hansen; C. C. Hough. Paul D. Sturgeon, and N. A. Toalson, all of Centralia; J. T. Isbell of San Francisco; William S. Lowe, Mexico; and Frederick W. Stewart, St. Louis.

Ausmus. who is secretary and general counsel of the company, was chairman of the stockholders meeting. Hough was secretary.

Other Stockholder Action

Other action taken by the share holders included:

1. Eliminated the requirement that directors be stockholders of the company.

2. Empowered the board of directors to set the date of the date of the annual stockholders meeting.

3. Authorized the board to fix a date, prior to stockholders meeting or dividend payments, as a record date for determining the right of stockholders to vote in meeting or receive dividends.

4. Approved an amendment to the company's restricted stock option plan to permit the board to grant stock options to officers and executives of Chance subsidiaries, based on profits of the respective subsidiaries.

The board of directors met after the stockholders meeting and reelected F. Gano Chance chairman of the board and president; Toalson, executive vice president; Hough, treasurer and controller; Ausmus, secretary and general counsel. All other officers were also re-elected.