Investment Notes"
By CUSTOS we have all been saying for the past six
ts st,1 months or more that the D-mark should be of ty. "P-Nalued, none of us expected it to happen last dolgin:‘'e4end. It was surprising that the Stock Ex- v s Kcy,•\„41111,;: should have greeted a 5 per cent. up- dvanc(1 (lawn with such enthusiasm. Most economists uld say that it is tinkering with the payments 43blem and that such tinkering might make iii f alters worse. But it was read as a bull point lead the British export trade and most of the thee si,ing equities concerned with exports were f d out by investors. ENGLISH ELECTRIC, r°r example, which I recommended for other efse'lls last week at 34s. 9d., rose to 40s. 6d. ag e More speculative investor might now look 37'sii.o at GENERAL ELECTRIC as a recovery stock at 9d. to yield 5.2 per cent. Under its new ,a nagement the company is showing much more fultrnt rr, ids bi rnse, as witness its bid for Radio and Allied ogs. Another recovery stock is VENESTA, 0.'101 has now risen to 68s. to yield 5.1 per cent. he 171 per cent. dividend. This company ra.tlY acquired Winterbottom Industries Ltd., Vef!-has subsidiaries fitting well into the Corn- ' s plywood and collapsible metal container onOtic ..iness. The benefits of this acquisition should "erge in another year under Venesta's excellent st 4 agefflent "IPLI Mark and European Investment id 'the - per cent. up-valuation of the D-mark e Pr' erves to recommend the £1 shares of the EURO- PEAN MARKET INVESTMENT TRUST which are being placed privately at par in the City at the moment. This company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lonsdale Investment Trust and has a portfolio of about £300,000 worth of European equities from the Common Market 'Six.' It is proposed to enlarge this portfolio by about £1,000,000 from the present placing. The management of the company will be in the hands of Kleinwort's (who are amalgamating with Robert Benson, Lonsdale), and as its board will include foreign investment bankers it should be as expert as it is necessary to be in the selection of a foreign portfolio. A low rate of dividend must be antici- pated to begin with but later it will be the board's policy to distribute a high proportion of its income. A Stock Exchange quotation will be applied for only after a year or two.
ICI It is good to hear that ICI intends to spend £100 million in the next ten years in setting up chemical factories in the Common Market coun- tries, beginning with a mixture of chemical plants on a site near Rotterdam. This news may per- suade holders to take Up their one-in-twenty new shares at 55s. which are presently quoted at 16s. 3d. premium. A yield of 3.8 per cent, on the 131 per cent. dividend is not too generous but over the years to come ICI should live up to its reputation as our leading 'growth' stock.
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