OCR

1954 Utah Construction Company had so expanded and diversified its activi- ties during this period that it appears timely to review briefly the prin- cipal phases of the Company's business. In general, the parent company was both an operating company and a holding company. It carried on a diversified construction operation in the United States and its possessions. It was also engaged in open-pit mining of iron ore and coal while conducting exploratory work in a number of other mineral fields. In addition to working capital, these activities required the substantial investment in equipment and other fixed assets carried on the parent company's books. Besides these assets, the Company at the close of its 1954 fiscal year had invested its funds in: Six wholly-owned subsidiaries (two of which were minor in importance) engaged in foreign construction or mining activities. Thirty-four active affiliated companies and four affiliated companies then in liquidation. Of the active companies, one was in foreign heavy construction, three were concerned with mining, selling and the trans- porting of Peruvian iron ore, twenty-nine were in the business of constructing, owning or operating housing projects, and the last was on investment in the Permanente Cement Company of which Utah in 1954 owned 4,4% of the total stock outstanding. During this year Utah reduced its holdings of Permanente Cement Company by 12,425 shares which were distributed as a dividend to its stockholders. Besides its investment in securities above, the Company purchased for resale and development approximately 6, 000 acres of land in the San Francisco Bay area under purchase contracts. These properties would soon be the source of future construction work, Allen D. Christensen was elected President at the Annual Stockholders' Meeting in January, 1954. He succeeded Mr. Lester S. Corey who retired from active management after more than 53 years of faithful service. During 1954 Utah and its affiliated companies directly or through joint venture were operating in Alaska, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Haiti, Korea, Guam and Australia. The services performed included engineering contracts, consulting activities on mining operations, resid- ential and non-residential buildings, highways and heavy construction work.