CANADIAN TIRE <CTC.TO> HOPES TO SOLVE DISPUTE
Canadian Tire Corp Ltd said it still
hopes a special board committee can solve a voting rights
dispute between class A and common stock shareholders.
    "Although no such proposal has yet been developed, the
directors hope that such a result can be achieved," chairman
Hugh Macaulay said at the annual meeting.
    The committee, formed last fall, has been trying to
determine the voting rights of class A non-voting shares if
control of the company changes hands.
   
    The Ontario Securities Commission blocked a 270 mln dlr
takeover bid last January for 49 pct of the company's common
shares.
    The OSC said the bid by a group of Canadian Tire store
owners abused shareholders rights by circumventing share
provisions that would convert non-voting stock into voting
shares if more than 50 pct of the stock changed ownership.
    Since then, three members of the Billes family, who agreed
to tender their 60 pct holding of Canadian Tire's common shares
to the pro rata offer, have commenced legal proceedings amongst
themselves.
    Macaulay said he would not comment further on the situation
"while matters remain in an unsettled state".
    At the meeting, president Dean Groussman said the higher
profit trend evident in the first quarter ended April 4 was
continuing. First quarter net rose 10 pct to 21.1 mln dlrs from
19.2 mln dlrs a year earlier.
    Groussman also said the company plans sharply higher
capital spending this year of 103 mln dlrs, compared to 43 mln
dlrs last year, and it will likely maintain high levels of
capital investment in 1988 and 1989.
 Reuter
