24 MARCH 1973, Page 22

Portfolio

Schweet profits

Nephew Wilde

My Uncle George (you may remember he advised investing in Sabina last July) is a very wealthy man. And like most people of means he is extremely parsimonious. It is no coincidence, therefore, that he has perpetuated the habit of holding birthday parties even though he is a septuagenarian. He once confessed to me, in fact, that he reckoned this was an excellent investment — the return on a rather potent punch, the cost of invitation cards etc was handsome in terms of golf balls, bottles of whisky and the like.

As it happened I received such an invitation for his birthday last week — this was after a lapse of some years following the occasion when I sent him a cheque for "365 Days of Happiness and Prosperity." It was not long , before Uncle George approached me in regard to my investments. Of course he had forgotten about Sabina and when I reminded him that the shares were now languishing around 75p against my purchase price of 188p he soon changed the subject.

"The best investment these days, " said Uncle George, "is food . . . no, not a food share but the actual stuff you eat. I've got two deep freezers stacked full of steaks bought at way below the market price. In fact, I was reading the prospectus of a company that came to the market the other day — Alpine I think was the name — and saw one can get credit from United Dominion Trust to buy your meat and out-of-season strawberries. An excellent investment — far better than your shares."

Personally I would hate to think of myself eating food on the never-never. Not for me: I buy things for pleasure whether it be a picture or crate of vintage port and my enjoyment would.be lost if I even thought of these things as an investment. However, on this topic of food I am drawn to one share and that's CadburySchweppes.

The results last October for the twenty four weeks to June 17 were surprisingly good and there is still a lot to be seen in terms of benefits from the merger.

Cadbury-Schweppes have been active in building up its activities not only in this country but in North America. In 1973, in fact, some 40 per cent of pre-tax profit is likely to be earned outside Britain. At home the zero rating for the confectionery trade is a bullish point, with Cadbury holding 35 per cent of this E300 million market.

Overall I am going for pre-tax profits of rather more than the £26 million forecast at the time of the Jeyes purchase last November.