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BTCE Information Paper 35TABLE 2.3 COMMONWEALTH EQUITY IN ANL($ million)ItemEquitfCapital base 1956Capital injections1965198319853.090.070.5Total 196.4Reserves and minority 30.3 interestsAccumulatedlossesTotal Commonwealth equity as 30 June at 1989 165.8a. Refers to book values.Source Australian Shipping Commission (1989).In its first complete year of operations in 1958, ANL had assets of $43 million andemployed a staff of 1911. In 1989 the enterprise’s assets were $389 million and1432 staff were employed.Commonwealth equity in ANL as at June 1989 was $165.8 million. Since itsestablishment in 1956 with a capital base of $32.9 million, ANL has receivedgovernment capital injections as shown in table 2.3. Two-thirds of the totalinjections of $1 63.5 million represented conversion of loan capital into equity aspart of a capital restructuring program. All borrowing requirements have beensubject to Loan Council controls, though these controls are under review as inthe case of the other competitive GBEs, Australian Airlinesand Qantas. ANL paysall relevant taxes.ANL‘s financial guidelines prior to the reform package required ‘to it function asa commercial enterprise and make profits sufficient pay to the Commonwealth areasonable rate of return’ (sections 17 and 18 of the Australian ShippingCommission Act). The Australian Shipping Commission determined a profit levelas a financial target each year.In line with the 1988 reform package, ANL is also required to submit regularcorporate plans, and to work towards an agreed financial target, consult ondividends proposed, revalue assets on a regular basis, and report on performancagainst targets in its annual report. Under ANL‘s current plan the company aimsto achieve ‘improved profitability and an improved return on assets’, and todevelop funding arrangements ‘aimed at avoiding the high gearing difficultiesexperienced in the early 1980s’ (Australian Shipping Commission 1989, 5).12