 The problem of declining revenues was not limited to the CLR; all of London's tube lines and the sub-surface DR and MR were affected by competition to some degree. The reduced income from the lower passenger numbers made it difficult for the companies to pay back borrowed capital, or to pay dividends to shareholders. The CLR's dividend payments fell to 3 per cent from 1905, but those of the UERL's lines were as low as 0.75 per cent. From 1907, the CLR, the UERL, the C & SLR, and the Great Northern & City Railway companies began to introduce fare agreements. From 1908, they began to present themselves through common branding as the Underground. In November 1912, after secret take-over talks, the UERL announced that it was purchasing the CLR, swapping one of its own shares for each of the CLR's. The take-over took effect on 1 January 1913, although the CLR company remained legally separate from the UERL's other tube lines.
