Venturers' Corner Earlier this year I drew attention to the
attractions as a lock-up speculation of the 5s. Ordinary shares of the Brush Electrical Engineering Company. Since the capital was reconstructed in 1938 no accounts have been published, but it will be surprising if the next report which is due shortly does not reveal a considerable improvement in trading profits. Whether a dividend will be forthcoming is still open to doubt, as the company is in a transition period, during which a great deal of internal reorganisation is being carried through. It may be, therefore, that even if profits have been earned, the board will feel it incumbent to con- serve resources until the real earning power of the under- taking can be more accurately gauged.
Quoted around par, Brush Electric 5s. Ordinaries still offer attractions for their long-term possibilities, but it seems to me that the option certificates, which stand at 35., are now better value for money than the Ordinary shares. These option certificates relate to Er nominal of Ordinary capital, so that at the current price of 3s. one is buying an option at par on the 5s. Ordinary shares at the equivalent of 9d. As the option MIS up to September 3oth, 1943, it is obviously valued very cheaply in the market. If, for example, the Ordinary shares should at one time during the next four and a-half years move up to nothing higher than 7s. 6d., the option would clearly be worth at least 3s., or the equivalent of 125. in the form in which it is quoted. In view of the company's possibilities of recovery, the options appear to me to be among the cheapest speculations on the
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