Venturers' Corner I see that one of the sufferers in
the recent setback in markets has been Cable and Wireless ordinary stock, a recent favourite of these notes. A fortnight ago the price was up to £55 ; a little profit-taking has now brought it back to £51. Here, in my view, is an opportunity for the speculative investor who does not mind waiting for results. We now have five months' traffic indices of the operating company available and they hold out an encouraging pro- spect for the current year. After moderate declines in the first three months, when the 1939 figures were being com- pared with a pre-rate-reduction period of 1938, the April and May indices have both shown increases. An April index of 75.1 was 3.6 points up on April, 1938, and the May figure of 69.7 shows a rise of 4.4 points. Taking the five months together, the 1939 monthly average is 71.8, against a comparable figure last year of 71.3. In a year in which international trade has had no help from politics this seems to be to be good going. There is certainly every justification for thinking that the policy of
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FINANCE AND INVESTMENT
(Continued from page lioS)
rate-reduction is already bearing fruit. Leaving out political accidents—and dne must make this qualification about so- called safety-first as well as speculative investments—I regard the maintenance of a 4 per cent. dividend on Cable and Wireless ordinary stock is well assured. On this assumption the yield at 51 is not far short of 8 per cent., which seems generous in view of the combine's strong finances and the stock's marketable qualities. In a better atmosphere a quotation of 6o to 65 would not be by any
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