I attended the AGM and lunch of the CAMRA Member's Investment Club yesterday. It was held at the admirable Victoria Hotel, Beeston, a few miles from Nottingham, so there was a superb range of beers to drink from the likes of Castle Rock, Burton Bridge and Holden's breweries to name but a few. There was an interesting speech on the state of brewing from Paul Theakston of the Black Sheep Brewery.
The club exists to invest in real ale breweries and currently has a membership of c3,500 and the fund has grown to over £10 million. You must be a CAMRA member to join the club and the minimum investment is £5 per month and the maximum has just been increased to £166 per month or £2000 per annum. One member one vote is the mantra though.
Of course investments can go down as well as up but the Club has done an excellent job of outperforming the market even in these tough times for brewers. The committee includes such luminaries as Chris Bruton, Neil Kellett, Iain Loe, Dave Goodwin, Chris Holmes and Sean Murphy so it is evident that they are likely to have a greater knowledge of breweries' performance than the average stockbroker. Also, their services are given freely without even the payment of expenses.
CAMRA have not made new members aware of the Club as much as it could in the last few years so if you like the idea of investing a few bob in cask ale producing breweries you can contact the Investment Club here
