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Meeting for the first monthly public financial statement of -XIX- July 2nd, 1716, Willemstad, Curaçao - at the Colonial office of the Heeren XIX. - The prominent figure of the chairman rose from his chair. On the red curtain behind the large table an emblem was embroidered depicting the corporate signature of the Compaignie des heeren XIX. As he stood up, he saw the freshly baked cookies from Willemstad’s famous “Bakkerij Bussing” still went around in the audience that was already enjoying a hot cup of excellent English tea, acquired through some recent friendly and profitable contacts with British traders. Heer Jon ‘t Ven toe Raay, obviously of noble blood with a difficult name as such, was accompanied by the other members of the board and all sat behind that large table facing the audience. The board members were wearing their best set of clothes and wigs and were looking quite dandy. He started his speech. It was a pleasant voice to listen to. “Ladies, gentlemen, as heer der Heeren of the Compaignie des heeren XIX, I welcome you to our very first public financial presentation. As all of you are aware we are doing business under Octroy of the Republic and are therefore a public company obliged to make these public announcements. The first one we wanted to do in style.” He smiled and saw a satisfied audience chewing their cookies in anticipation of things to come. Heer Evertsen de Oude will probably be correct that investing in cookies can be profitable in the end. “As for the order of the meeting I’ll first say something about the focus of our company, then the esteemed Heer of the Rekenkamer, Pier Donia, will announce the financial results of the last month. Lastly we are happy to talk to you personally about some of our investment opportunities and shareholder options if you would be interested in that.” He took a sip of his own tea and almost burnt his tongue. “The recent agreed truce, the Treaty of the Antilles at Montserrat, saw to it that Willemstad prices plummeted as demand went down. Our company, despite those hostilities in the Eastern parts of our colonies, was earning quite well with spoils of war and the high prices. However, we are in agreement with the Dutch Consortium on the necessity of a truce. A change of focus and market is henceforth being taken care of. Our newly erected fishing squadron will see to it that profitability remains and new markets around Haiti and Cuba are currently explored. Our recently renewed defensive fleet to combat piracy around the northern parts of the Caribbean has been vigilant and profitable. In regard to trade and construction, our shipyards are continuously building new ships and our warehouses are filled abundantly with materials to trade. The focus in the coming months will be to establish trade agreements with other companies of all the nations active throughout the Caribbean. Furthermore, our company will be active in hiring more employees the coming months who will be offered a great working environment in professional surroundings, with an actual share in the company. Pier, can I hand the attention of the audience to you for the financial statements?” New cookies arrived quickly, as guiding audiences through financial statements would certainly not be an exciting part for most people in this meeting. Heer van de Rekenkamer, Pier Donia, started his oratory. “Yes, thank you Heer. I shall keep it as brief and quick as possible. We have provided copies of the statements, which clearly shows a profit of a little over 26 million Guilders last month. Some benefits are directly cash related and some were to build our assets. To strengthen the value of the company, our board has decided to assign 16 million guilders to the equity by adding it to the Capital Reserve giving our company a worth of just over 45 million Guilders. This increased the value of the shares two point three times, with …, .... blablablabla ..., …, and thus 50.000 Guilders per share in dividend is reserved to an amount of 9,5 million Guilders and to be payed out to shareholders. With the current activities deploying, profitability should rise further in the coming months.” There were no more cookies left and Heer Jon ‘t Ven toe Raay quickly took over. “Thank you heer van de Rekenkamer, the public statements looks excellent! Ladies, Gentlemen, thank you for your patience and attention. We now can take some of your questions and if you would like to discuss our investment and job opportunities, please feel free to do so. All of our Heeren are available to you.” You can find more information about the Octroy of our company here: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14593-octroy-voors-compaignie-heeren-neegentien-xix/?p=270412 You can find more information about the Treaty of Montserrat here: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14809-preliminary-treaty-of-the-antilles-commerce-and-free-navigation-valid-as-soon-as-the-four-nations-sign/?p=274607