George McCarthy in the City . Palmerston House , E.C.2 . London Wall 3431 . a sixpenny bargain at the stock exchange . an unchanged dividend of 300 per cent is being paid on the ordinary shares of Neville developments . and thereby hangs a tale - and a great deal of money . Neville developments is a Birmingham company run by shrewd chartered accountants . it has a number of operating subsidiaries , but its main function is that of an issuing house specialising in transforming private companies into public concerns . and highly profitable that business has proved . the company &apos;s shares are among the cheapest ever brought to market . their nominal value is 6 d , but their market value is around 50 s . earlier this year they were worth more than &amp;pound;3 each . profit figures for 1961 , out this morning , will prove rather disappointing to shareholders . they amount to &amp;pound;471,000 , which is a drop of &amp;pound;312,000 from the year before . but these shareholders are in no need of sympathy . they are in the big money . let me briefly retrace the golden road . making money . in 1958 the then 2 s ordinary shares are placed at 3 s each . in September , 1959 , they were divided into one sixpenny ordinary share and three sixpenny deferred ordinary shares . the deferred get no dividend until 20 s had been paid on the ordinary . anybody who invested &amp;pound;100 in these shares in 1958 would now have 666 ordinary shares worth more than &amp;pound;1,300 , plus 2,000 deferred shares - which have no market quotation yet but are surely going to be valuable later . beer wedding . every expert in the beer business has been prophesying that the trade will be concentrated into fewer and fewer units . today the big Yorkshire combine , John Smith &apos;s Tadcaster brewery , reports that it is having merger talks with Warwick and Richardson , the brewers of Newark , Notts . already this year John Smith &apos;s has bought up Yates &apos; Castle brewery . the 5 s shares of Warwicks and Richardsons are currently quoted at around 22 s . so the take-over terms should be interesting . shares move up . after a dull start , prices moved ahead again yesterday on the stock exchange . business was small , but some of the gains were worth having . steel company of Wales rose 1 s 3 d to 35 s 6 d , Pru A 17 s 6 d to &amp;pound;23 18 s 9 d , and Threlfall &apos;s brewery 2 s to 90 s . in the paper section , Bowater put on 1 s 3 d at 46 s 3 d , while Penguins rose 10 1/2 d to 20 s 4 1/2 d . imperial chemicals gained a further 1 s at 61 s 6 d and Typhoo tea 1 s 3 d at 35 s 4 1/2 d . in oils , Burmah , which announces a three-million-dollar share purchase in great Plains development Co of Canada , and a 4,500,000-dollar option on more shares , rose 1 s to 34 s 1 1/2 d . where money goes . how do we invest the millions of pounds we all own as tax-payers ? a white paper , out today , reports that expenditure on the programmes of the nationalised industries , the public corporations and the post office accounts for one half of all public investment . largest absorber of capital is the electricity industry , followed by the British transport commission and the post office . about two-fifths of our public money goes to local authorities , who spend it chiefly on housing and education . enormous sums are involved . total investment this year is estimated at &amp;pound;1,755million . and next year - that is , the year ending April 1963 - it might be &amp;pound;200million more . rising values . the &amp;pound;1 ordinary shares of Sopers of Harrow , Middx , the store firm , are worth &amp;pound;48 10 s each . that is what Debenhams , which already owns most of those in issue , are offering for the remaining 4,135 . boom time - and bank rate may be clipped . all was merry and bright along the golden pavements of the City yesterday . everybody believes the bank rate will be cut again today . if it is not , some bold speculators will lose money . yesterday they were backing their fancy with hard cash , and shares enjoyed their best day for a long time . the financial Times index rose by 4.6 points , which represents a jump of many millions in share values . metal box , the can giant , rose 2 s 4 1/2 d , imperial chemicals 2 s , Beechams 1 s 9 d , Typhoo tea 2 s . in banks , Westminster B and Lloyds both put on 1 s 9 d , while Prudential A rose &amp;pound;1 to &amp;pound;24 18 s 9 d . Courage and Barclay frothed up 1 s 6 d and Bents brewery rose 2 s . there was less excitement in the gilt-edged market . but gains of up to 6 s 3 d were recorded . expansion . Sir Clavering Fison &apos;s report should be in the hands of his shareholders today . but it is already out of date . he reports that the capital projects approved total &amp;pound;13,500,000 , most of which is for the proposed great nitrogen plant at Milford Haven . Sir Clavering told me yesterday that this figure has now become an overstatement . the Milford Haven project has been modified . there is now no plan to raise fresh capital , certainly not in this financial year . although group sales of this great fertiliser and chemical combine rose by &amp;pound;3million last year to &amp;pound;54million , the profit came down by &amp;pound;900,000 to &amp;pound;3,607,000 . even so it was the second highest figure in the company &apos;s history . booming Butlin . Mr Billy Butlin was host last year to more than 600,000 paying guests . this year the figure should be larger still , because a new camp , in Minehead , Somerset , will be open . the joy in the chalets certainly spreads to the shareholders , who must regularly rise and bless the name of Butlin . last June these lucky owners , having had a dividend for the year of 80 p.c , learned that their shares were being doubled by a capital bonus . yesterday , Mr Butlin announced that the interim dividend on this new capital is raised to 15 p.c , and he forecast a final of not less than 40 p.c - a total of 55 p.c . he also revealed that the full figures for this year will show an increase in revenue of &amp;pound;1,500,000 . he added that the rise in the half-yearly dividend is small only because the Chancellor has called for restraint . profits jump . there is surprisingly good news this morning from Sir Ivan Stedeford , master of mighty tube investments . he reports a jump in profits of &amp;pound;3million to a record &amp;pound;27million . the figure , of course , includes for the first time the profits of acquired Raleigh industries , but we already know that these declined last year . in addition , the figures now out reveal that the earnings of a major subsidiary , British aluminium fell last year by &amp;pound;1,500,000 . so the group profits make pleasant reading to shareholders . dividend is 14 p.c which is the equivalent of 18 p.c paid last year . this news came after the stock market had closed . but it was greeted with a cheer . in after-hour dealings the &amp;pound;1 shares jumped 5 s to 67 s 6 d . no wonder . a new weapon is launched in the lager war . four big brewers have joined in an unequal partnership to produce and market a new lager , Harp . they are Guinness , Courage , Barclay and Symonds , Mitchells and Butler and the Scottish and Newcastle breweries . and it was Lord Boyd , vice-chairman of Guinness - formerly Mr Lennox Boyd - who in his best front-bench manner yesterday launched a campaign at the Dorchester Hotel to make us drink Harp on a national scale . now nearly all the big brewers - Bass is a notable exception - are committed to the struggle for the new drinking market . big business . huge money is at stake . Ind Coope is spending millions to make and market Skol . the four groups who will strum the harp have combined assets of over &amp;pound;200million . can these huge investments pay off ? the brewers think so and they will be right if enough of the drinking classes change their taste . dividend shock . shock news for shareholders of gas purification and chemical , the Grundig company . they are to get no dividend this year . last time they were paid 35 p.c . no wonder ! against last year &apos;s profit of &amp;pound;811,000 , there is this year a loss of &amp;pound;15,000 . when the news broke yesterday the 5 s shares dipped to 5 s 9 d . but they recovered later to 6 s 7 1/2 d , a fall of 10 1/2 d on the day . more down . stock markets yesterday were still falling under the influence of recent adverse company news . Wiggins Teape , papermakers , tumbled 2 s 3 d to 50 s 9 d and Villiers engineering , on bad results , 1 s 3 d to 6 s 9 d . full details of the merger lowered both Rank organisation and Gaumont British by a shilling . holding the line . directors of Ault and Wiborg , the makers of printers &apos; inks , have continuing good news for their shareholders . half year &apos;s profit to September 30 last is &amp;pound;14,000 higher at &amp;pound;515,000 and the interim dividend of 3 1/4 p.c is the equivalent of 6 1/2 p.c paid last year before the hand-out of a 100 p.c capital bonus . no bonus . shareholders of Fry &apos;s ( London ) , makers of Enox hand tools , must do without a special bonus this year - last time it was 2 1/2 p.c . a final dividend of 10 p.c brings the total distribution up to 17 1/2 p.c compared with 20 p.c a year ago . reason for the cut is a &amp;pound;19,000 fall in profits at &amp;pound;54,300 . wagon take-over . directors of Winget , the Kent engineers , and the Gloucester railway carriage and wagon company have at last agreed on terms for a merger . Winget will offer the following share-exchange terms to holders of Gloucester wagon shares : two Winget ordinary , plus &amp;pound;4 19 s nominal of convertible loan stock , for every nine Gloucester shares . last month Sir William Morgan , chairman of Gloucester wagon , said that when existing orders are completed the company would stop making rolling stock for railways , and the main works would be closed down . the merger should alter things . home seekers facing bad winter . what do you do nowadays if you must buy a house ? one major authority on the subject today declares : it will be a hard winter for the home buyer . the authority is the building societies gazette . and I agree with it . the facts are , as the gazette points out , that when the banks and insurance companies are not lending money all home buyers turn to the building societies . bargains . these , although they have large funds , have n&apos;t got anything like enough money to meet the huge demand . and building society managers are not keen to lend large sums on expensive houses . some houses , it is true , might now fall in price , particularly the pre-1919 houses , since the government &apos;s lending scheme on these has been abandoned . but the societies do n&apos;t want to lend money on these old houses . so in that case , too , the young home-builders will be frustrated . for these houses , and some others , the winter could be a bargain time for the man with ready cash who can pay the full price . but how many young home-makers are in that position ? so young lovers move into a queue that goes on lengthening . says the gazette : we wish them joy as they trudge from society to society . we wish that Mr Selwyn Lloyd could go with them to listen to their interviews with building society branch managers . or perhaps they would prefer more cheerful company . perhaps they could have the cheerful company of Mr Lloyd &apos;s new right-hand man , Mr Henry Brooke , whose set-the-people-free rent act brought about this remarkable situation . the tragedy is that he &apos;s proud of it . profits slim . two major British companies , Courtaulds , the man-made textile giant , and Wiggins Teape , the paper-making combine , issue ominous statements . the theme is the same : higher sales but smaller profit . Cortaulds &apos; sales for the half-year to September 30 were &amp;pound;3,600,000 higher at &amp;pound;83,451,000 but profit in the six months declined by nearly &amp;pound;2 million to &amp;pound;7,586,000 . and there is a small but severe shock for shareholders . their interim dividend is cut from 10 d to 9 d - that is , from 4 1-6 p.c to 3 3/4 p.c . final dividend last year was 5 5-6 p.c to make 10 p.c for the year . present indications suggest , say the directors , that profits for the second half-year should be of the same order . 